What Is The Percentage Of Canadian NHL Players?

Ice hockey has its origins in Canada. This is why it has continually been referred to as a Canadian sport. So how many NHL players from Canada are there overall?

Several famous and once-in-a-lifetime greats have emerged from Canada. Similarly, the foundation of the NHL, NHA, and even the Stanley Cup all trace back to Canada.

During its early years, ice hockey was only played by Canadians. However, now that it has transitioned to a sport with so many countries represented in major leagues, what is the population of Canadians?

In addition, when we consider contemporary ice hockey and leagues like the NHL, is the numerical advantage still in favor of the Canadians?

Today, we will derive the percentage of NHL players that are Canadian, along with how much their population in the league has changed over time.

Decrease In The Percentage Of Canadian NHL Players Over The Years

Throughout the past few decades, there have been significantly fewer NHL players from Canada. During the course of a few decades, their dominance in the NHL decreased from over 90% of all players to around 40% (which is the current percentage).

1970-2000

The NHL had 14 teams in the 1970–71 season, including two brand-new entries (Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks). In the NHL during the 1970–71 season, 386 players were counted. Of this total, 371 of these players (around 91% of the league) were Canadians.

1970-1980

The NHL saw an expansion from 14 teams to 21 teams between the 1970–71 season and the 1979–80 season. The number of players in the league increased as a result of the expansion. There were 655 players still on the NHL roster at the conclusion of the 1979–80 campaign.

At this moment, there were 547 Canadian players that were still active. Moreover, it meant that 83.5% of NHL players were from Canada.

By the completion of the 1979–80 season, ten nations were represented in the NHL, up from six at this time in the league.

From 1970 to 1980, the number of NHL players from Canada fell by 7.5%.

1980-1990

The league had 640 players instead of the 655 active players from the previous season during the 1980–81 campaign. However, the NHL still had the same number of clubs and nations participating (21 teams).

Nonetheless, from ten in the 1980–81 season to twelve at the conclusion of the 1989–90 season, there were more nations represented in the NHL. Moreover, there were 725 players, with a sharp increase in the number of players from the United States (120).

The proportion of Canadian NHL players fell by 7.6% between 1980 and 1990.

1990-2000

The NHL’s player roster reached 736 during the start of the 1990–91 campaign. Nonetheless, just eleven nations were still represented. 544 more Canadians played in the NHL this season than the year before.

After the addition of seven additional franchises, the NHL had twenty-eight teams by the time the 1999–2000 season rolled around. In addition, 19 nations were represented in the NHL at the conclusion of the 1999–2000 season.

The ratio of NHL players from Canada decreased by 16.8% between 1990 and 2000.

2000-2020

The biggest shifts in the percentage of Canadian NHL players occurred from 2000-2020.

• 2000-2010
  The NHL had 973 active players from 20 different nations as of the 2000–01 season. As ice hockey gained popularity during this time, the number of players from the United States, Russia, and the Czech Republic, respectively, increased. During the 2000–01 season, the league additionally welcomed two expansion teams. Up until the 2009–10 season, there were still the same number of teams. In addition, compared to the 2000–01 NHL season, there were fewer active players in 2009–10 (962). The proportion of NHL players from Canada fell by 1.2% between 2000 and 2010.

• 2010-2020
  There were 981 players who were active in the NHL during the 2010–11 season. 516 of these players were Canadian, out of the total. In the NHL, there were thirty franchises, and twenty different nations were represented. With regard to the 2019–20 season, there were only 970 NHL players, and the number of countries represented was reduced to 17 nations. The number of Canadian players fell to 413 this season as Sweden and the US both had significant national player representation. Finally, the proportion of Canadian players in the NHL decreased by 10.1% from 2010 and 2022.

2021-2023

• 2020-21
  There were a total of 1,011 players in the NHL for the 2020–21 season. The percentage of NHL players from Canada was 42.7%, and these athletes represented 18 different nations.
• 2021-22
  Another NHL expansion team was added for the 2021–2022 season, bringing the total number of NHL franchises to 32. The United States came very close to matching the number of players from Canada during the 2021–22 season. This season, there were 43.1% of NHL players from Canada and 28.2% from the United States.
• 2022-23
  1058 players from 18 different nations competed in the NHL during the 2022–23 season. This season, there are 445 NHL players from Canada, accounting for 42.06% of all players by nationality.
  

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?

Reason For Decrease In Number Of Canadian NHL Players

Decreasing numbers in the percentage of Canadian NHL players was not because of the lack of talent, but rather due to fewer Canadians in comparison to the population of the United States. This simply means that there has been a surge in skill from other nations.

The only nation that played ice hockey seriously at first was Canada. Fortunately, as the game grew, more nations were interested in the game in turn increasing its popularity, television audience, and indenous young talent.

Back in the day, all NHL draft picks in the league came from Canadian hockey institutions. This meant for those outside of Canada, there were no institutions for the development of ice hockey.

Thankfully, there are now hockey development programs available outside of Canada, and these have fostered the growth of extraordinary talents.

Once more, the population of Canada is not particularly large. To put it in perspective, some states in the United States have a population that is the same as the entire country of Canada.

This has an impact on the quantity of NHL players from Canada because the US will always need more players to fill its ranks.

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. 

Thanks for reading.