The NHL is the fourth largest sports league in North America, but hockey is extremely popular around the globe. With the efforts of the NHL, IIHF, and other local hockey associations, the game is growing at a rapid rate, and more talent is flowing into the best leagues around the world from non-traditional hockey markets than ever before.
Just this year, the IIHF welcomed three new nations into the federation: Kenya, Bahrain, and and Greece. None of these countries are traditional hockey playing states, but their inclusion into the IIHF was a proud moment for them.
The NHL continued its tradition of the Global Series, this year playing games Germany, Czechia, and Finland. They’ve visited plenty of other countries too, including Australia, China, Japan, and Puerto Rico. Hockey is growing worldwide, and it’s great to see.
For the past few years, The Win Column has done a breakdown for every team in the NHL based on nationality (see 2019, 2020, 2021, 2021–22, 2022 trade deadline, 2022–23, 2023–24 here).
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In 2024–25, the nationality breakdown saw quite a few changes. Some countries were added to the list, others dropped off, but ultimately the diversity in the game is growing and that’s a good thing. This year’s breakdown is based on season-opening rosters from all 32 NHL teams, per the NHL website.
Hockey around the world
Hockey is globally known as “Canada’s game,” and while that might still be true today, there are several countries that have closed the gap in the past decade or so. Now, hockey is mostly dominated by the Big Six: Canada, the USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and Czechia. There have been 24 Winter Olympic games that have had men’s ice hockey, and these five nations have won 67 out of 75 total medals or ~90% of medals awarded.
With the emergence of international superstars like Tim Stützle, Timo Meier, Mats Zuccarello, and many others, the game of hockey is clearly growing overseas. It’s only a matter of time before we start to see countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark rise up the international ice hockey charts and continually challenge for medals at international tournaments.
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. Over the past 13 years, first-overall picks have come from six different countries, something that just hasn’t been very common in the NHL’s history.
NHL nationality breakdown
Still, we’re still not at a point where we can say that any country is on a level playing field with Canada. In the NHL, 41% of players are from Canada, a slight decrease of 1% from last year. The USA is a not-so-close second at 29%, even with the percentage from last year.
Teams included in the chart below, and all subsequent charts breaking down nationality are as follows in order: Canada, United States of America, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark, France, Belarus, Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria, Norway, Australia, Great Britain, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria.
Jordan Spence is the one player born in Australia but represents Canada internationally, Arthur Kaliyev was born in Uzbekistan but represents the USA, and Nathan Walker was born in Great Britain but represents Australia.
This season, the NHL features players of 18 different nationalities and 21 birth countries.
It’s easy to see in the graphs above that the Big Six, or the nations of Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, and Russia are still the countries with the highest representation in the NHL. However, the drop-off from Czechia, the Big Six country with the fewest players in the NHL, to the next country of Switzerland is not as significant as it has been in the past.
The average team has 0.5 players players from outside Big Six countries or just around 2% of a standard 23-man roster. The Minnesota Wild (Marco Rossi from Austria and Mats Zuccarello from Norway) and the St. Louis Blues (Alexandre Texier from France and Nathan Walker from Australia), lead the league with two players each from non-Big Six countries. 12 other teams are behind them with one player from outside the Big Six, an increase from nine last year. At the beginning of the 2022–23 season, the New Jersey Devils has six players from outside the Big Six.
Broken down even further, most of the Big Six players hail from North America. Canada and the United States make up the majority of players in the NHL (70%), but even within the Big Six, North Americans account for 74% of players. This is down 1% from last year.
Once again, most teams are composed primarily of North American players, though the separation between North America and the rest of the world is not nearly as large as it was for the Big Six. On average, each team has 7.7 players from outside North America or 30% of their roster. The San Jose Sharks have the most non-North Americans on their roster with 13, closely followed by the Minnesota Wild with 12.
The Ottawa Senators have the lowest non-North American representation with just four players. Four teams follow closely behind with just five players not from North America.
Looking at the rosters of each team in the NHL shows an interesting rainbow of nationalities spread throughout the league.
By birth country, a few more countries are added to the chart.
Team nationality leaders
The teams that have the most players hailing from each country are as follows:
| Nationality | Maximum | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 17 | EDM, MTL, VGK |
| United States of America | 13 | BOS, DET |
| Sweden | 6 | MIN |
| Finland | 4 | COL, FLA |
| Russia | 5 | CBJ |
| Czechia | 3 | ANA |
| Switzerland | 3 | NJD |
| Germany | 1 | BUF, CHI, DET, EDM, OTT, SEA, SJS |
| Slovakia | 2 | CGY, NJD |
| Latvia | 2 | VAN |
| Denmark | 1 | CAR, PIT, SEA, WPG |
| France | 1 | STL |
| Belarus | 1 | CGY, CHI, UTA, WSH |
| Netherlands | 1 | VAN |
| Slovenia | 1 | LAK |
| Austria | 1 | MIN, MTL |
| Norway | 1 | MIN, TBL |
| Australia | 1 | STL |
| Great Britain | 0 | N/A |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | N/A |
| Bulgaria | 0 | N/A |
For North American players, four new teams feature at the top. Three teams are tied for the most Canadians this year with 17: The Oilers, Canadiens, and Golden Knights. The Bruins and Red Wings lead with 13 Americans.
The Wild have the most Swedish players with six; the Avalanche and Panthers have the most Finns with four; the Columbus Blue Jackets have the most Russians with five; and the Ducks have the most Czechs with three.
Last year, 14 teams had players from seven different countries, an impressive show of diversity. This season, Chicago has the most nationality diversity with nine nations represented on their opening night roster. The Blues, Lightning, and Canucks follow with eight countries represented. Conversely, the Islanders are the least diverse with just four countries represented on their roster.
This season, of the 18 countries represented, four have just a single player in the league. These countries are France, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Australia.
Last year, Belarus, Austria, and Norway were also on this list, but this year these countries all have multiple players in the NHL. Belarus took the biggest jump from one to four players this year.
Missing this season is Anson Thornton, one of the most interesting players last season. He was born in Oshawa, Ontario, but represented Jamaica in the Latam Cup in 2019–20. The Latam Cup is one we’ve discussed in nationality breakdowns before; last year’s tournament in September featured teams from Argentina, Greece, Lebanon, Mexico, Armenia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Egypt, Israel, Venezuela, and The Caribbean. It truly is one of the most fascinating international ice hockey events in the world.
In terms of birth country, Great Britain, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria join the list as countries with just one player in the NHL born there.
The global sport of hockey
This breakdown is solely based on the opening night rosters for all NHL teams, which does omit certain players who will definitively play NHL games this season. With the salary cap gymnastics that almost every team played at the start of the season, rosters were not 100% indicative of those each team would ice on a regular basis. As the season goes on, we’ll update this breakdown to include all players who skated in a game after the trade deadline.
Hockey might still be dominated by the Big Six, but the winds of change are blowing. Several new nations are joining the fold and becoming fixtures in the hockey landscape. Their surge up the international charts—and the draft board—signals a new era of ice hockey, where victory for the Canadians is no longer guaranteed.
Finally, the NHL will play high-stakes international hockey at the 4 Nations Faceoff in February 2025. Taking place in Montreal and Boston, the tournament will feature Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland. It’s not the Olympics, but it’ll do, especially after waiting so many years for international competition between NHL players.
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