The spike in the popularity of ice hockey in the United States is mostly due to Wayne Gretzky. Close behind the Czech Republic is Russia, which contributes 38 players to the NHL (4% of all players). Viewing: Country. Czechia, formerly the Czech Republic and one half of Czechoslovakia before that, is the last nation to provide a whole NHL teams roster-worth of players. In terms of percentages, Russian players account for 5.4% of all the currently active players in the NHL now. The report released Tuesday found that 83.6% of the NHL's workforce is white and that men make up nearly 62% of the total, based on the 4,200 people who participated in a voluntary and anonymous survey (about 67% of all employees). Some of the most well-known Swedish NHL players are Erik Karlsson (San Jose Sharks), Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals), Loui Eriksson (Vancouver Canucks), and Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings). NHL History Explained, The NHL Entry Draft: All You Need To Know. Learn more about how Statista can support your business. This shows the national diversity currently in the NHL. His day view in the NHL was when he appeared in three games in the 1969-70 NHL season. 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Business Solutions including all features. Forty-four of Canadas NHL players are from la belle province, also known as Quebec. Sweden clocks in with the third-most active NHL players, at 91 (9.5%). Statistics are current through the end of the 2021-22 NHL season and players currently playing in the National Hockey League are marked in boldface.. All players are listed by the current country of the players' birth location . The average team has 0.4 players players from outside Big Six countries or just around 2% of their standard 23-man roster. Clearly, Finland did a good job, with Barkov winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the leagues top defensive forward in 2020-21. By birth country, a few more countries are added to the chart. This opens a lot of avenues for the NHL since their teams are often so nationally diverse. Tampa Bay Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov, who was born in Maikop, Russia, is outpacing fellow Russian Evgeni Malkin 65 to 45 points. However, the number of NHL players that originate from Canada is on a steady decline. He did play in Switzerland instead of the Ontario Hockey League during the shortened 2020-21 season, for what its worth. Casual fan. A few years after the formation of the NHL in 1917, 44 (91.7%) of its players were Canadian. Quizzes Created- Accessed March 04, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1279112/nhl-player-count-by-country/, Spotrac. Percentage of NHL Players by Nationality 20182019 Stats. Alexis Lafreniere was the first Canadian to go first overall in the NHL draft in five seasons. In fact, the United States (or any other countries) barely had any players in the NHL until the 70s! There are seven NHL teams located in Canada. Although still the largest group of hockey players by nationality in the NHL, recent decades and years have had other countries catching up in numbers and talent. Playing with the Boston Bruins, he was also the first NHL player of African-descent. Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, who was born in Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada, is narrowly ahead of countryman Connor McDavid with 59 points this season. Although other ice hockey leagues saw integration in the early 20th century (including the Quebec Senior Hockey League), the NHL did not see its first non-white player until March 13, 1948, when Larry Kwong broke the NHL's colour barrier playing with the New York Rangers. Odds, Scores and Schedule; NHL Standings; . Over the past eleven years that percentage has jumped 6% to 26.5% of the NHL. . Required fields are marked *. Other international NHL fans are probably following the NHL to see the hockey triumphs of their compatriots. What the NHLs Russian contingent lacks in size it makes up for in talent. In the coming years, it is possible for a country like the US, which is a close second to Canada in player dominance, to eventually have the highest percentage of players in the league. Despite the drop, the Canadians are always going to have an unrivalled presence, when conversing NHL players nationalities. Cleats are always the easy starting point. You need to be a highly skilled hockey player, of course, but if you happen to be a highly skilled player from Zimbabwe, you can play in the NHL if you really want. Figure 3 is a heat map that plots the origin countries of NHL players. Spotrac. Job Title White, 72.8% Black or African American, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.5% Unknown, 6.8% Canada boasted 566 (76.9%) of NHL players, with 115 (15.6%) coming from the U.S. Percentage of NHL Players by Nationality 20192020 Stats. , Nov 17, 2022. Unlike FIFA, players do not register with a country, so nationality is often disputed when . . Could there be a trade brewing between the Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes? Included in this list of 21 players are nine Canadians, five Americans, three Russians, two Czechs, a Slovak, and a Swede. Teams included in the chart below, and all subsequent charts are as follows in order: Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, France, Austria, Slovenia, Belarus, Netherlands, and Norway. NHL Totals by Nationality 20222023 Stats. The NHL began its expansion of player nationalities in the 1970s, when players hailed from the United States, Sweden, and Finland. Well, that was the past, now the NHL is more than just a Canadian or North American league. Fourth place is nothing to scoff at; its a very strong Finnish. .hide-if-no-js { Each year at the NHL draft there are more and more players selected from non-traditional hockey markets, and the game really is growing in more countries around the world. Players are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career. Tiny Slovenia, with a population of a little over two-million people, is well represented by their only NHL player, Anze Kopitar. In order to play in the National Hockey League (NHL), a player must be 18 years of age or older. This means there might have been some players who had parents native to such countries but were not given birth there. FS Jevon Holland, Miami Dolphins, Coquitlam, B.C. Canada is the country with the largest concentration of NHL players. Canada boasted 566 (76.9%) of NHL players, with 115 (15.6%) coming from the U.S. What is the breakdown of nationalities in the NHL? Theme: Newsup by Themeansar. As an ex-soccer player myself, I was always very intrigued in how to optimise performance. However, Slovakia has produced many fantastic, historic NHL players like Peter Stastny, Marian Gaborik, and Marian Hossa. Comparatively, there are 8.9% of the Black or African American ethnicity and 7.5% of the Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Although still the largest group of hockey players by nationality in the NHL, recent decades and years have had other countries catching up in numbers and talent. Theres really no risk of Voracek catching him though, with Jagr holding a nearly 1,200-point lead over his compatriot. However, six and a half years ago, it was roughly half, while in the 1980s it was over three-quarters. As you might expect, the NHL has diversified immensely in the last 100 years since its formation. Chart. The average NHL player salary is $2,554,463 USD for the 2020-21 season. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Show sources information Tuuka Rask, Pekka Rinne, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Niklas Backstrom have all represented Finland in the NHL. This season, of the 17 countries represented, five have just a single player in the league. A total of 21 countries have players in the league. Do you know that in the 1970s about 2% of NHL players were Americans? These categories of players do not fit into this classification. Henrik Lundqvist, Gabriel Landerskog, Jonas Brodin, Elias Petterson, Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, Nicklas Backstrom are just some of the Swedes NHL fans may recognize by name. (November 17, 2022). Although most of the American players originate from states that have harsh winter climates some players originated from warm climate states(Auston Matthews was born in California but grew up in Arizona where he became a fan of the Coyotes, and at one point, one of the highest paid NHL players). In the mean time though, I could not stop geeking about cleats and their performance benefits. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? Show publisher information Each country represented by at least one player has a color assigned to it that corresponds to the number of players it has in the NHL. And yes, they definitely do. Notable Slovakian Player: With defenseman Zdeno Chara having retired, New Jersey Devils forward Tomas Tatar now holds the mantle as the active leading scorer among Slovakian players. He only played Avg 2022 Payroll. NBA Country Tracker. Ovechkin, Kucherov, Panarin, Tarasenko, Kuznetsov and Kaprizov are some of the flashiest scorers in the league. Over the past 10 years, first overall picks have come from five different countries, something that just hasnt been very common in the NHLs history. There were 259 Canadian forwards (53.7%), 123 defenders (48%) and 35 goalies (53%) and they made up 51.8% of the NHL. Truth be told, since the official birth of the Czech Republic in the early 1990s, theyve always been up there. With an all-time high of players born outside of North America, Canadian-born players made up just 49.7 per cent of the 624 players to appear in a game in the first two weeks of the 2015-16 season. The drop off from the Czech Republic, the Big Six country with the fewest players in the NHL, to the next country is significant. The players that will be listed below are players that are citizens by birth (native-born). Slovenia is represented by Anze Kopitar, a center for the Los Angeles Kings. 3 overall in 2014, now tied with Ottawa Senators rookie Tim Stutzle) on his own merits. Along the way, we will cover other relevant information on the distribution of NHL players by country. Earnings. Copyright 2023 HockeySkillsTraining.com, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window). The league consists of a variety of players from varying nationalities and diverse backgrounds. This is down from last year when the average was 35% per team. What percentage of NHL players are Canadian 2021? NHL players that are not Canadians or Americans are almost exclusively from Europe. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, and Washington Capitals are the leagues most diverse teams, featuring players from nine different countries. Use Ask Statista Research Service, NHL - number of Stanley Cups won by team 1915-2022, Value of National Hockey League franchises 2021, Average home attendance in the NHL by team 2021/22. Historically speaking, some may think Germany doesnt have a significant presence in the NHL. The rest of the NHL roster consisted of 5 U.K. players, 3 U.S. players, and 1 player each from Ireland and Finland. At the time that was the highest percentage of Americans the NHL had ever seen on an opening night roster. Percentage of Active NHL Players by Nationality 20222023 Stats. Switzerland, perhaps surprisingly, hovers around the 10-player mark. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Notable Canadian Player: Take your pick, but lets go with Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid, whos generally the consensus best player in the world. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. The highest paid player is Auston Matthews at $15,910,000 USD, while 161 players are paid the league minimum of $700,000 USD. Needless to say, its not just a Canadian game. Percentage of NHL Players by Nationality 20202021 Stats. The Calgary Flames have the most Swedish players with six; the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Nashville Predators, have the most Fins with five each; the Boston Bruins lead with five Czechs; and the Senators have the most Russians with five. The state with the most NHL players is Minnesota, with a total of 71 players. Their surge up the international chartsand the draft boardsignals a new era of ice hockey, where victory for the Canadians is no longer guaranteed. In the NHL, 43% of players are from Canada, an uptick of 1% from last year. Canadians The Coloured Hockey League was an all-black ice hockey league established in 1895. The Kings have the most Swedish players with seven; the Stars Panthers have the most Finns with five; the Capitals and Blues have the most Russians with four; and the Ducks, Coyotes, Bruins, Red Wings, and Maple Leafs have the most Czechs with three. How many are from other countries like Latvia and France? statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. This is on par with last year. Well, the NHL is based in North America, so it would be safe to assume that the players either come from Canada or the United States. His presence led to the development of the game in warmer cities in the U.S. and facilitated the creation of some of the American franchises we have in the NHL. Default Timer. It makes sense, then, that throughout history, Canada has consistently led the NHL in terms of the number of players hailing from the country. Even from the graph above, its easy to see that the Big Six, or the nations of Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia are the most represented countries in the NHL.