What Is The Percentage Of Canadian NHL Players?
Ice hockey has its roots in Canada, the country of its origin. Up till this moment, ice hockey is still known as the Canadian game. But what is the population of Canadian NHL players in the league?
The NHA and the NHL started in Canada, the Stanley Cup began in Canada, and lots of legendary and one-in-a-lifetime greats have come out of Canada. During the early days of ice hockey, it was played entirely by Canadians. But now that the game has gained popularity in many nations of the world, do Canadians still dominate the sport in numbers?
Do the Canadians still have to number advantage in modern-day ice hockey, and in leagues like the NHL? In this topic, we’ll be using facts to calculate the percentage of Canadian NHL players and how much this percentage has varied over the years.
Decrease In The Percentage Of Canadian NHL Players Over The Years
The percentage of Canadian NHL players has reduced drastically over the last few decades. Their NHL domination dropped from over 90% of the total number of players to about 40% (which is the current percentage) in a few decades.
1970-2000
During the 1970-71 season, the NHL had 14 teams, two of which were newly added to the league (Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks). The 1970-71 season recorded a total of 386 players in the NHL. Out of this number, 371 were Canadians taking approximately 91% of the league at that time.
1970-1980
From the 1970-71 season to the 1979-80 season, the NHL recorded an expansion from 14 teams to 21 teams. Due to the expansion, there was an increase in the number of players in the league. At the end of the 1979-80 season, there were 655 active players in the NHL.
At this point, the number of Canadians also increased to 547 active players. And, the percentage of Canadian NHL players was 83.5%.
At this point in the league, the countries represented in the NHL increased from six to ten by the end of the 1979-80 season.
The number of Canadian NHL players reduced by 7.5% from 1970-1980.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 1970-71 | 14 | 386 | 371 | 91% |
| 1979-80 | 21 | 655 | 547 | 83.5% |
1980-1990
In the 1980-81 season, the number of players in the league decreased from 655 active players in the previous season to 640 players. But the number of teams and countries represented in the NHL was the same (21 teams).
However, at the end of the 1989-90 season, the number of countries represented in the NHL increased to twelve from ten in the 1980-81 season. Also, the number of players increased to 725, with the United States having a massive increase in the number of active players (120).
From 1980-1990, the percentage of Canadian NHL players reduced by 7.6%.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 1980-81 | 21 | 640 | 524 | 81.8% |
| 1989-90 | 21 | 725 | 538 | 74.2% |
1990-2000
At the beginning of the 1990-91 season, the number of players in the NHL increased to 736. However, the countries represented were reduced to eleven. Compared to the previous season, the number of Canadian NHL players increased to 544.
Coming to the 1999-2000 season, the NHL now had twenty-eight teams after the addition of seven new teams to the league. In addition, at the end of the 1999-2000 season, 19 countries were represented in the NHL.
From 1990-2000 the percentage of Canadian NHL teams reduced by 16.8%.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 1990-91 | 21 | 736 | 544 | 73.9% |
| 1999-2000 | 28 | 921 | 526 | 57.1% |
2000-2020
The biggest shifts in the percentage of Canadian NHL players occurred from 2000-2020.
- 2000-2010
From the 2000-01 season, the NHL had 973 active players representing twenty countries. During this period, the United States, Russia, and the Czech Republic grew in the number of players from their countries as ice hockey became more popular.
The league also saw the addition of two expansion teams in the 2000-01 season. This number of teams remained all the way to the 2009-10 season. In addition, the number of active players reduced to 962 during the 2009-10 NHL season compared with the 2000-01 season.
From 2000-2010, the percentage of Canadian NHL players dropped by 1.2%.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 2000-01 | 30 | 973 | 533 | 54.7% |
| 2009-10 | 30 | 962 | 515 | 53.5% |
- 2010-2020
The 2010-11 season saw a total of 981 active players in the NHL. Out of this number, 516 players were from Canada. The number of teams in the NHL was thirty and the number of countries represented was twenty in number.
Coming to the 2019-20 season, the number of NHL players was reduced to 970 and the number of countries represented was reduced to seventeen. In this season, Sweden and the US had a large national representation among players and this made the number of Canadian players drop to 413.
From 2010-2022, the number of Canadian players in the NHL dropped by 10.1%.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 2010-11 | 30 | 981 | 516 | 52.6% |
| 2019-20 | 31 | 970 | 413 | 42.5% |
2021-2023
- 2020-21
The 2020-21 season saw a total of 1,011 players in the NHL. These players represented 18 countries and the percentage of Canadian NHL players was 42.7%. - 2021-22
The 2021-22 season saw the addition of another NHL expansion team to make 32 total franchises in the NHL. During the 2021-22 season, the United States came very close to matching the number of players from Canada.
The percentage of Canadian NHL players in this season was 43.1% while that of US players was 28.2%. - 2022-23
The 2022-23 season showcased 1058 players in the NHL from 18 countries. The number of NHL players from Canada for this season is 445 and they make up 42.06% percent of the total nationality of players.
| NHL Season | No. Of Teams | No. Of Players | No. Of Canadian Players | Percentage of Canadian Players |
| 2020-21 | 31 | 1011 | 432 | 42.7% |
| 2021-22 | 32 | 1123 | 485 | 43.1% |
| 2022-23 | 32 | 1058 | 445 | 42.06% |
NHL Teams With The Most Number Of Canadian Players
From the table below, the two teams with the most amount of Canadian players in the NHL are the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights with 18 Canadian-born players on their rosters.
Next to them is the Montreal Canadiens with 17 Canadian-born NHL players.
Related Post: NHL Players Nationalities: Where Are They From?
| No | NHL Teams | Number of Canadian Players |
| 1 | Edmonton Oilers | 18 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 10 |
| 3 | Montreal Canadiens | 17 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 15 |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | 9 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 7 |
| 7 | New York Islanders | 11 |
| 8 | Boston Bruins | 7 |
| 9 | Philadephia Flyers | 10 |
| 10 | Winnipeg Jets | 12 |
| 11 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 9 |
| 12 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 11 |
| 13 | Seattle Karkens | 13 |
| 14 | Vegas Golden Knight | 18 |
| 15 | Dallas Stars | 8 |
| 16 | Colorado Avalanche | 14 |
| 17 | Carolina Hurricanes | 8 |
| 18 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 12 |
| 19 | Detroit Red Wings | 8 |
| 20 | Los Angeles Kings | 9 |
| 21 | Minnesota Wild | 15 |
| 22 | Florida Panthers | 10 |
| 23 | Nashville Predators | 10 |
| 24 | Washinton Capitals | 9 |
| 25 | Vancouver Canucks | 12 |
| 26 | San Jose Sharks | 12 |
| 27 | Ottawa Senators | 10 |
| 28 | Buffalo Sabres | 10 |
| 29 | Chicago Blackhawks | 11 |
| 30 | Arizona Coyotes | 14 |
| 31 | Anaheim Ducks | 13 |
| 32 | St Louis Blues | 10 |
Reason For Decrease In Number Of Canadian NHL Players
The reason for the reduction in the percentage of Canadian players in the NHL is not because they are not talented. Rather it is because of the increase in talent from other countries.
Initially, Canada was the only country that really played ice hockey. However, with the increase in popularity and televising reach, more countries developed an interest in the game.
In addition, earlier in the days, the institutions in which players were drafted into the NHL were all Canadian. Also, ice hockey development institutions were not available outside of Canada.
Fortunately, there are now hockey development programs outside of Canada and they have led to the development of remarkable talents.
Again, Canada does not have a very large population. To put it into perspective, the entire population of Canada is equal to the population of a state in the United States.
This affects the number of NHL players from Canada because countries like the US will always have more players to produce.
Conclusion
Even though the number of players in the players is Canada declining, they are still the country to produce the most generational talents. Canada is still known for producing good ice hockey players, however, the pool of countries training hockey talents is more compared to a few years earlier.
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