NHL Nationality Breakdown between 1917/18 - 2009/10 Seasons

Charts below show the breakdown of NHL player nationalities between 1917-18 and 2009-10 seasons. Contribution of each nationality is displayed across the following statistics: Number of Skaters, Games Played, Goals, Assists, Points and Penalty Minutes. Chart data for each season can be viewed in the NHL Totals by Nationality stats page

Looking back at over 90 years of NHL history, the league has evolved from having an almost exclusively Canadian player base to a highly diverse league with player nationalities ranging from Croatia to Japan. After the 1970s, the Canadian dominance gradually diminished as players from the Unites States, Sweden and Finland began to find their way to the NHL in greater numbers. By the end of the 1980s, the share of Canadians in the league had dropped to approximately 75% and hovers now around the 50% mark.

Canadian NHL Player Stats

American NHL Player Stats

Russian NHL Player Stats

Slovak NHL Player Stats

Czech NHL Player Stats

Finnish NHL Player Stats

Swedish NHL Player Stats