The NHL by nationality: 52 per cent Canadian content

by James Mirtle on Nov 26, 2008 1:51 PM CST in Statistics Comment 43 comments

Here's another stats breakdown I like to run every season: A look at which countries NHLers come from in a given season (based on birthplace).

The basics are that, with 768 players having appeared in a game so far this season, 52.0 per cent of the NHL is Canadian born, followed by 19.9 per cent American, 6.9 per cent Czech, 5.9 per cent Swedish and 4.4 per cent Finnish.

The NHL is down to only 3.5 per cent Russian-born players, a figure that doesn't include Ukranians, Latvians and Kazakhs.

Hope you saved room for pie:

Nationcharte_medium

Nationchartd_medium

Make no mistake, with a decreasing number of Russians, Eastern Europeans and even Canadians in the league, the NHL is becoming more and more American. I remember running these numbers 10 years ago and Canada came in around the high 50s and the American representation would be about 11 or 12 per cent.

European players make up 27.3 per cent of the NHL this season, which I'll bet is a bit lower than many expect.

Let's look at things by position:

Nationchartc_medium

Nationchartb_medium

I was actually surprised to see Slovakia with as many defencemen as they've got, as that's a relatively new development. It used to be Zdeno Chara and a bunch of "whos?"

Canadians make up 54% of the forwards in the league, with Americans at 20.5% and Europeans 25%. On defence, Canadians fall to 48.9%, Americans are right at the same spot and there are, surprisingly, far more Europeans playing defence (30 per cent) percentagewise than forwards.

Which brings us to goaltending:

Nationcharta_medium

Note the Finnish representation, as the small Nordic country makes up about 12 per cent of NHL goaltenders. Canadians are 51% of the backstops and Americans only 13 per cent.

Other countries have four or fewer netminders this season.

And here's a crazy stats dump just for you:

	Country	Forwards		Defence		Goalies		Total	%NHL
1	Canada	248	53.7%	116	48.9%	35	50.7%	399	52.0%
2	U.S.	95	20.6%	49	20.7%	9	13.0%	153	19.9%
3	Czech Rep.	31	6.7%	19	8.0%	3	4.3%	53	6.9%
4	Sweden	22	4.8%	19	8.0%	4	5.8%	45	5.9%
5	Finland	17	3.7%	9	3.8%	8	11.6%	34	4.4%
6	Russia	18	3.9%	7	3.0%	2	2.9%	27	3.5%
7	Slovakia	8	1.7%	7	3.0%	2	2.9%	17	2.2%
8	Germany	5	1.1%	3	1.3%	0	0.0%	8	1.0%
9	Switzerland	0	0.0%	1	0.4%	3	4.3%	4	0.5%
10	Ukraine	3	0.6%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	4	0.5%
11	Austria	2	0.4%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	3	0.4%
12	Belarus	2	0.4%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	3	0.4%
13	Denmark	3	0.6%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	3	0.4%
14	Kazakhst.	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	1	1.4%	2	0.3%
15	Latvia	1	0.2%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	2	0.3%
16	Brazil	0	0.0%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
17	Brunei	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
18	UK	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
19	Italy	0	0.0%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
20	S. Korea	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
21	Lithuania	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
22	Norway	0	0.0%	1	0.4%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
23	Poland	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
24	Slovenia	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	0.1%
25	France	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	1.4%	1	0.1%
26	S. Africa	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1	1.4%	1	0.1%
	Totals	462		237		69		768

		Forwards		Defence		Goalies		Total	%NHL
	N. America	343	74.2%	165	69.6%	44	63.8%	552	71.9%
	Europe	116	25.1%	71	30.0%	24	34.8%	211	27.3%
	Other	3	0.6%	1	0.4%	1	1.4%	5	0.8%


		Forwards		Defence		Goalies		Total	%NHL
	Canada	248	53.7%	116	48.9%	35	50.7%	399	52.0%
	U.S.	95	20.6%	49	20.7%	9	13.0%	153	19.9%
	Europe	116	25.1%	71	30.0%	24	34.8%	211	27.3%

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Time to call another hockey summit!

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 26, 2008 2:04 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Finnish goalies

Finns make up 11.6% of the NHL’s masked men, but only 4.4% of the general population? That is whack.

Unless Finnish training methods are far superior to all other goaltender-producing countries, or there is something special in the water there, Finnish goalies are being severely overrated.

A quick look through 2008-2009 save percentage partially confirms this:

Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY .893
Vesa Toskala, TOR .876
A. Niittymaki, PHI .901
Fredrik Norrena, CLS .872
Pekka Rinne, NAS .861
Kari Lehtonen, ATL .903

Only two of these guys are close to the NHL average of .904. Sure, Niklas Backstrom has been great, but he’s only one goalie among a nationality that accounts for 11.6% of all goalies that have played in the NHL this year.

It’s a situation somewhat akin to the fading preference for french-Canadian goalies. When and how did the hard-on for Finnish goalies start? When will it end?

by OperatorNumber79 on Nov 26, 2008 2:42 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Interesting stuff. And you wonder how many people think of Backstrom when you ask about the best Finnish goalie in the league?

by James Mirtle on Nov 26, 2008 3:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

How many people think of Backstrom

when they think about the best goalie in the league?

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey

by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 12:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

In the words of Jukka ropponen.

Q: Finland lately is producing very good goaltenders. What is the secret?

It’s very simply the number of trained goalie coaches at even the youngest level. Finnish ice hockey association has done years of systematic work and it has paid off. Then we have some very good coaches at higher level and for example cities like Turku have been producing very good goalies due to coaches like Urpo Ylönen who has been training their goalies for years producing guys like Miikka Kiprusoff, Antero Niittymäki, Fredrik Norrena etc.

The rest of the interview can be found here.
http://www.eurohockey.net/news/story.html?id=20080608183304qawithgoaliecoachjukkaropponen

Jukka has a holositc approach to the position.

by cubanpuckstopper on Nov 28, 2008 8:14 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

the Calgary Non-Euros

Thanks for the article, James. I always find demographics interesting, but I don’t know if it really means anything. Does anybody know off-hand if there any other teams besides Calgary that currently has a roster of exclusively North American skaters? (Finnish goalie and, I know, Canadian Olympian Regehr was born in Brazil.) And if not, when was the last time an NHL team could claim this?

by rich snake on Nov 26, 2008 3:50 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

And if not, when was the last time an NHL team could claim this?

Well, the Ducks have been very North American heavy for the past couple of years, save for Selanne and Pahlsson. At the start of last season, Pahlsson was injured and Selanne was semi-retired, so the Ducks packed up to England with an entirely North American skating lineup.

It probably doesn’t really answer your question, but I found it odd that the NHL would send the roster with the least Europeans to Europe, but whatever. Here‘s the Anaheim roster from the first game. Outside of the crease, it’s all North Americans.

http://battleofcalifornia.blogspot.com/

by Earl Sleek on Nov 26, 2008 3:58 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I just went to the Caps-Thrashers game tonight

and I sat in front of four guys all speaking Russian. With Ovechkin, Semin, Kozlov and Fedorov I think the land of oars has found their favorite NHL team. Reminds me of Slava Kozlov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov all on the Wings in the ’90’s.

by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 12:02 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

USA USA USA

Interesting that the Penguins have 10% of the American defensemen in the league (Goligoski, Gill, Orpik, Scuderi and Eaton)…And that doesn’t even count the soon-to-be returning Ryan Whitney.

And two of the team’s top defensive prospects (Carl Sneep and Brian Strait) are American too.

An interesting little trend…To me anyways.

by Hooks Orpik on Nov 26, 2008 4:06 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I should actually break this down by team next. It really doesn’t take that long (although I hate how NHL.com separates goalies from skaters in its system).

by James Mirtle on Nov 26, 2008 4:52 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

America in the coming years could produce

a better top four defense corp than Canada. Rafalski, Komisarek, Johnson and Johnson vs. Phaneuf, Green, Doughty, and maybe Schenn? Perhaps Rafalski will be retired, maybe injuries continue to derail Johnson and Johnson but in a oerfect world, I might just take America, and maybe Phaneuf isn’t as advanced defensively as we’d like to see him.

by jobe on Nov 26, 2008 11:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Shea Weber

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 8:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

It’s not going to be better. Ever.

GO CANADA GO!

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 27, 2008 9:10 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Never say never. Who would have thought 10 years ago that there be so many Americans doing so well in the league?

Also, jobe: You may want to take a flier on Paul Martin in addition to Weber.

by John Fischer on Nov 27, 2008 10:03 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Weber’s Canadian.

Here’s a list of some of the top Canadian defencemen this year: Weber, Boyle, Green, Pronger, Campbell, Souray, Girardi, Phaneuf, Niedermayer, Vlasic, Redden, Bouwmeester, Keith, Coburn, Burns, Wideman, Robidas, Staal

American: Rafalski, Suter, Hainsey, Gilbert, Yandle, Goligoski, Ballard, Liles, Leopold, Corvo, Mara, Poti, Schneider, Martin, Gleason, Orpik, Finger, Komisarek

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 10:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

You guys weren't saying that in '96

by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 12:40 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Mike Richter stole that series plain and simple.

Oh, and Hull’s stick was over the crossbar and Roenick kicked his goal in.

Not that I still care after 2002…

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 27, 2008 4:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Whats wrong with Ryan Miller and Tim Thomas?

Thats a pretty good duo. DiPietro, as always is an unknown.

US over Canada? I might just take Patrick Kane over Sidney Crosby.

by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 12:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Mistake

There’s a mistake in the data. There are 3 Russian goalies in the league now: Bryzgalov, Khabibulin and Nabokov. It’s a little bit foolish to count Nabokov as a Kazakh as far as he got WC gold in Quebec with Team Russia.

by berestoff on Nov 27, 2008 1:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It’s all based on birthplace.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 8:15 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Its funny that Kazakhstan has been represented in the Olympics

and they’ve got Kazakh-born players in the NHL, but Antropov and Nabokov are both pretty much Russian. Has there ever been a True Kazakh in the NHL?

by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 12:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I’m sorry to say the same mistake goes with Russian forwards and defenders. I just went thru every roster team by team and got 19 (not 18 as you claim) forwards and 9 (not 7) defenders. So on your way you somehow lost 4 Russian players.
I think judging by the players birthplaces you didn’t count Zherdev or Tikhonov and Babchuk. It seems that Gonchar is ommited as well.

by berestoff on Nov 27, 2008 4:42 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Gonchar hasn’t played a game, so he’s not included. I believe Babchuk is listed as being born in the Ukraine.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 8:16 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Zherdev was born in Kiev, too. I put Tikhonov as a Russian as I saw two different sources for his birthplace.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 8:17 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

In times of their births (Zherdev and Babchuk I mean) there was no country called Ukraine. The same stands for Kazakhstan and Nabokov. All of them were bon in USSR. So that’s not accurate to judge by birthplace I believe.
Grabovsky was born in East Germany, in Potsdam. Should he be counted as German?

by berestoff on Nov 27, 2008 11:32 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

How often would you like me to repeat myself?

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 11:34 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

UK Player?

Who is the UK player? Owen Nolan because he was born in Ireland?

by ChrisHey on Nov 27, 2008 7:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Yes, it’s all just straight from where players are born. I said so in the first line there.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 8:18 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Grabovski

Hey, did you count him as Russian? Maybe that’s your missing Russian forward?

*just kidding, born in Potsdam, Germany.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 27, 2008 9:11 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

USA

If the US of A could ever develop a good consistent Goaltender, there would be no reason why they could not pass Canada and Russia in the next 3-5 years. Before all our yank friends jump all over me.

What I am saying is where is the US version of Broduer, Roy or Luongo?
Is it Tim Thomas, Mike Richter. Richter did out play Jospeph in 96. But that was one series.
I think it has been the lack of a consistent goaltending that has hurt the US of A

Is there a good young US goalie coming?
Good post James

Leafs selling hope to the hopeless since 1967

by Toe Blake Hockey on Nov 27, 2008 9:32 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

South Africa?

Can someone tell me how the goalie from South Africa is??

by Habs on Nov 27, 2008 11:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Here we go.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 11:09 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

That's funny

Geez, it’s like you can search for almost anything on that site. I bet it takes off.

by ChicoMaki on Nov 27, 2008 12:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Olaf Kolzig

http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8448535

by cubanpuckstopper on Nov 28, 2008 8:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

So by definition Dany Heatley is counted against Germany’s output. I understand the methodology but it just seems wierd to count both Schubert and Heater as German progeny. Schubert makes sense. At least he even sounds like a German when he speaks.

Oh well.

by hockeycountry on Nov 27, 2008 11:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It’s about ease of compiling the data. It’d take forever to sort through 770 players and determine which Canadians are actually American and vice versa.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 11:11 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

and Grabovsky must be counted as German as well.

by berestoff on Nov 27, 2008 11:20 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

This is really about looking at this from a macro perspective. Those 4-5 players won’t change the results by more than half a percentage point.

by James Mirtle on Nov 27, 2008 11:29 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

But wait, so is this based on birthplace or something? :)

Seriously, thanks for compiling this, James. The U.S. growth has always seemed a demographic inevitability — particularly with NHL expansion — so it’s interesting to see how it’s progressing. Czech presence has always impressed me (but I’m half-Czech, so I would say that): the Czech Republic’s population growth has been stagnant to negative for the last two decades.

Lighthouse Hockey: a New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Nov 27, 2008 12:17 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I get it – It’s just that in the micro-details the anomolies are interesting.

by hockeycountry on Nov 27, 2008 11:47 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I'm a basketball fan from Portland Oregon

but I had to join this blog just to rec this post. Sweet stuff…keep up the good work.

That is really hideous
--jscot

by prezofdeath on Nov 28, 2008 3:55 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It is also interesting to note that within the U.S. player demographics are changing

http://www.usahockey.com/uploadedFiles/USAHockey/world_junior_championships/JrEvalCamp08roster3.doc

The U-20 roster still shows a strong Minnesota/Michigan presence. Massachusetts only had one. California has made a move as a USA Hockey team supplier.

by cubanpuckstopper on Nov 28, 2008 8:30 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

You can really see the western U.S. making a big push by looking at American players in the WHL. California, Colorado, Texas and even Arizona are starting to have hockey players come out of them. Perhaps not at the NHL level, but at some point, that’ll happen.

by James Mirtle on Nov 29, 2008 6:18 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs