How Hockey ChangedBodies
Canada Lost Its NHL Majority. The Sun Belt Took 20 Years to Make Players.
Canadians once filled 97 of every 100 spots in NHL lineups; now it is about 41. Europeans and Americans took the rest. Of the spots that go to Americans, about 16 in every 100 now go to players born in the South and Southwest, where the league moved in the 1990s. Some of those players were born there only because their fathers played for the new teams.
By Edgehalla ResearchPublished 13 min read
Nikolai Kovalenko was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Oct. 17, 1999, at the start of his father’s second season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Andrei Kovalenko’s NHL career ended in 2001, and when the boy was two the family went home to Russia. Nikolai learned the game in Yaroslavl, at Lokomotiv’s hockey school, and played for Russia as a junior.
When he reached the NHL in 2024-25, the league’s records listed him the way they list everyone, by birthplace. He counts as a North Carolina hockey player.
So far, every NHL player born in Raleigh is the son of a Hurricane.
On this page
Canada once filled almost every NHL lineup
Count every player in every lineup, game by game, across a season. In 1960-61, near the end of the six-team league that ran from 1942 to 1967, Canadian-born players filled 97 of every 100 of those spots. A player who appears in 80 games fills 80 spots, so the regulars count most. Only seven men born anywhere else played at all. Jack Evans, from Morriston in Wales, played 69 games. Stan Mikita, born in Sokolce in what is now Slovakia, played 68. Charlie Burns, from Detroit, played 62. The other four were Americans who played eight games or fewer, among them the goalie Jack McCartan.
Now Canadians fill about four spots in ten. Europeans and Americans took the other six. In the 1990s the league also bet that teams in the American South would grow hockey players there. Players did start to come from there, about 20 years later. But some of those players were born in the South only because their fathers played for the new teams.
Canada went from almost every NHL lineup spot to about four in ten
Share of all lineup spots (each player counted once for every game he played), by the player’s birth country. NHL regular season, every season since 1917-18, skaters and goalies
Show data
| Season | Canada | United States | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917-18 | 93% | 4% | 4% |
| 1918-19 | 94% | 3% | 3% |
| 1919-20 | 92% | 6% | 2% |
| 1920-21 | 92% | 5% | 2% |
| 1921-22 | 95% | 2% | 3% |
| 1922-23 | 97% | 2% | 1% |
| 1923-24 | 95% | 5% | 0% |
| 1924-25 | 92% | 6% | 2% |
| 1925-26 | 92% | 5% | 3% |
| 1926-27 | 96% | 2% | 2% |
| 1927-28 | 95% | 2% | 4% |
| 1928-29 | 92% | 4% | 5% |
| 1929-30 | 92% | 3% | 4% |
| 1930-31 | 90% | 6% | 5% |
| 1931-32 | 89% | 6% | 5% |
| 1932-33 | 87% | 7% | 6% |
| 1933-34 | 87% | 6% | 7% |
| 1934-35 | 87% | 6% | 6% |
| 1935-36 | 87% | 8% | 6% |
| 1936-37 | 88% | 6% | 6% |
| 1937-38 | 86% | 8% | 6% |
| 1938-39 | 87% | 8% | 6% |
| 1939-40 | 92% | 5% | 3% |
| 1940-41 | 94% | 3% | 3% |
| 1941-42 | 93% | 4% | 3% |
| 1942-43 | 94% | 5% | 1% |
| 1943-44 | 90% | 7% | 3% |
| 1944-45 | 94% | 5% | 1% |
| 1945-46 | 93% | 4% | 3% |
| 1946-47 | 95% | 3% | 2% |
| 1947-48 | 92% | 5% | 3% |
| 1948-49 | 92% | 4% | 4% |
| 1949-50 | 94% | 3% | 3% |
| 1950-51 | 94% | 2% | 4% |
| 1951-52 | 95% | 1% | 4% |
| 1952-53 | 97% | 1% | 3% |
| 1953-54 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1954-55 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1955-56 | 98% | 0% | 1% |
| 1956-57 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1957-58 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1958-59 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1959-60 | 97% | 1% | 2% |
| 1960-61 | 97% | 1% | 2% |
| 1961-62 | 97% | 1% | 2% |
| 1962-63 | 95% | 3% | 2% |
| 1963-64 | 98% | 1% | 2% |
| 1964-65 | 98% | 1% | 1% |
| 1965-66 | 97% | 1% | 2% |
| 1966-67 | 97% | 1% | 2% |
| 1967-68 | 97% | 2% | 2% |
| 1968-69 | 96% | 1% | 3% |
| 1969-70 | 95% | 2% | 3% |
| 1970-71 | 96% | 2% | 2% |
| 1971-72 | 95% | 3% | 2% |
| 1972-73 | 95% | 3% | 2% |
| 1973-74 | 93% | 4% | 3% |
| 1974-75 | 92% | 5% | 3% |
| 1975-76 | 93% | 5% | 3% |
| 1976-77 | 90% | 6% | 3% |
| 1977-78 | 89% | 7% | 4% |
| 1978-79 | 85% | 7% | 6% |
| 1979-80 | 84% | 9% | 7% |
| 1980-81 | 81% | 10% | 8% |
| 1981-82 | 80% | 10% | 10% |
| 1982-83 | 78% | 10% | 11% |
| 1983-84 | 78% | 11% | 11% |
| 1984-85 | 76% | 12% | 11% |
| 1985-86 | 76% | 13% | 11% |
| 1986-87 | 76% | 13% | 10% |
| 1987-88 | 75% | 14% | 10% |
| 1988-89 | 75% | 15% | 10% |
| 1989-90 | 72% | 17% | 11% |
| 1990-91 | 70% | 17% | 12% |
| 1991-92 | 69% | 18% | 13% |
| 1992-93 | 64% | 18% | 17% |
| 1993-94 | 64% | 18% | 18% |
| 1994-95 | 63% | 18% | 19% |
| 1995-96 | 61% | 18% | 21% |
| 1996-97 | 62% | 17% | 21% |
| 1997-98 | 61% | 16% | 23% |
| 1998-99 | 58% | 16% | 26% |
| 1999-00 | 54% | 17% | 29% |
| 2000-01 | 53% | 15% | 32% |
| 2001-02 | 52% | 15% | 33% |
| 2002-03 | 52% | 14% | 33% |
| 2003-04 | 53% | 16% | 31% |
| 2004-05 | – | – | – |
| 2005-06 | 53% | 17% | 29% |
| 2006-07 | 51% | 18% | 31% |
| 2007-08 | 51% | 20% | 29% |
| 2008-09 | 52% | 20% | 28% |
| 2009-10 | 54% | 20% | 25% |
| 2010-11 | 53% | 22% | 25% |
| 2011-12 | 52% | 22% | 25% |
| 2012-13 | 52% | 23% | 25% |
| 2013-14 | 52% | 23% | 24% |
| 2014-15 | 51% | 23% | 26% |
| 2015-16 | 49% | 24% | 28% |
| 2016-17 | 48% | 25% | 27% |
| 2017-18 | 46% | 26% | 28% |
| 2018-19 | 43% | 28% | 29% |
| 2019-20 | 42% | 28% | 30% |
| 2020-21 | 43% | 28% | 29% |
| 2021-22 | 41% | 29% | 30% |
| 2022-23 | 41% | 29% | 29% |
| 2023-24 | 41% | 30% | 29% |
| 2024-25 | 40% | 30% | 29% |
| 2025-26 | 41% | 29% | 29% |
- 1967-68: Expansion to 12 teams
Canadian-born players filled more than 90% of lineup spots in every season from 1939-40 to 1976-77, through the first expansion, from six teams to 12 in 1967. Then European and American players arrived, and the Canadian share fell below that line. The low so far was about 40%, in 2024-25. Canada is still the biggest supplier. Since 2015-16 it has filled fewer than half the spots.
The Canadians who are left come from a different mix of provinces. Take just their spots. In 1960-61, about 24 of every 100 went to players born in Quebec. In 2025-26 it was about 12. Ontario’s share has stayed between about 38% and 50% in every season since 1967. So Quebec lost ground twice, once to the newcomers and again inside Canada.
Europeans came first, through two doors
The first newcomers to take Canada’s spots came from Europe. Börje Salming made his debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 10, 1973. He was not the first Swede in the league; the Rangers had played Ulf Sterner in four games in 1965. “Salming wasn’t the first but he was the best. And the toughest,” the writer Risto Pakarinen put it, in a piece first published on NHL.com. Jim Proudfoot of the Toronto Star watched him play: “Then Salming throws himself to the ice and blocks a shot! Geez, this is the kind of player the Leafs need.” Swedish-born players passed 1% of NHL lineup spots that season and 4% by 1978-79. Finns followed in the early 1980s.
The second door was behind the Iron Curtain, in the Soviet Union and the Communist countries of Eastern Europe, whose players could not simply sign with an NHL team. In late August 1980, at a club tournament in Innsbruck, Austria, Peter Šťastný of Slovan Bratislava asked to speak with Marcel Aubut, the president of the Quebec Nordiques. He told Aubut, NHL.com’s Bob Duff wrote, that “he and Anton would be willing to sign with the Nordiques in a package deal.” The brothers wanted to come over together. In 1980-81 Peter set rookie records with 70 assists and 109 points. Then, on March 29, 1989, the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation let Sergei Priakin play in the NHL, and he signed with the Calgary Flames. Igor Larionov joined Vancouver the next season. Players born in the former Soviet Union went from almost none in 1988-89 to about 1% of lineup spots in 1989-90 and about 8% by 1993-94.
Sweden came first in the 1970s; the Soviet wave came in a rush after 1989
Share of all NHL lineup spots filled by players born in each country, regular season, 1967-68 on
Show data
| Season | Sweden | Czechia and Slovakia | Former Soviet Union | Finland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967-68 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1968-69 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1969-70 | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| 1970-71 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1971-72 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1972-73 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1973-74 | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1974-75 | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1975-76 | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 1976-77 | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| 1977-78 | 2% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| 1978-79 | 4% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| 1979-80 | 4% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| 1980-81 | 4% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
| 1981-82 | 4% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
| 1982-83 | 5% | 3% | 0% | 2% |
| 1983-84 | 6% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
| 1984-85 | 5% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
| 1985-86 | 5% | 2% | 0% | 3% |
| 1986-87 | 4% | 2% | 0% | 3% |
| 1987-88 | 4% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
| 1988-89 | 4% | 2% | 0% | 3% |
| 1989-90 | 3% | 2% | 1% | 3% |
| 1990-91 | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% |
| 1991-92 | 3% | 3% | 4% | 2% |
| 1992-93 | 3% | 4% | 7% | 2% |
| 1993-94 | 3% | 4% | 8% | 1% |
| 1994-95 | 4% | 4% | 8% | 1% |
| 1995-96 | 4% | 5% | 8% | 2% |
| 1996-97 | 5% | 5% | 8% | 2% |
| 1997-98 | 5% | 6% | 8% | 2% |
| 1998-99 | 6% | 8% | 9% | 2% |
| 1999-00 | 6% | 9% | 9% | 3% |
| 2000-01 | 6% | 11% | 10% | 4% |
| 2001-02 | 7% | 11% | 9% | 4% |
| 2002-03 | 7% | 12% | 9% | 4% |
| 2003-04 | 6% | 11% | 8% | 4% |
| 2004-05 | – | – | – | – |
| 2005-06 | 6% | 11% | 7% | 4% |
| 2006-07 | 6% | 11% | 7% | 5% |
| 2007-08 | 6% | 11% | 6% | 4% |
| 2008-09 | 6% | 9% | 6% | 4% |
| 2009-10 | 6% | 7% | 5% | 4% |
| 2010-11 | 7% | 7% | 5% | 4% |
| 2011-12 | 7% | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| 2012-13 | 6% | 6% | 5% | 3% |
| 2013-14 | 7% | 6% | 4% | 3% |
| 2014-15 | 9% | 6% | 4% | 3% |
| 2015-16 | 9% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| 2016-17 | 9% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| 2017-18 | 10% | 4% | 5% | 4% |
| 2018-19 | 11% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| 2019-20 | 11% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| 2020-21 | 10% | 4% | 6% | 5% |
| 2021-22 | 10% | 4% | 6% | 5% |
| 2022-23 | 10% | 4% | 6% | 5% |
| 2023-24 | 9% | 4% | 7% | 5% |
| 2024-25 | 9% | 4% | 7% | 5% |
| 2025-26 | 10% | 3% | 8% | 4% |
- 1973-74: Salming’s debut
- 1989-90: Soviet players allowed to leave
The waves didn’t last the same way. The Czech and Slovak share faded most: about 12% of lineup spots at its top in 2002-03, about 3% in 2025-26. The former Soviet share peaked at about 10% in 2000-01, spent most of the 2010s under 5% and is back to about 8%. Sweden held its ground. Its share peaked late, at about 11% in 2018-19, and was still about 10% in 2025-26. Finland topped out at about 5% in 2020-21. Today Swedish-born players fill more lineup spots than players from any other European country.
Europe as a whole topped out at about 33% of all lineup spots, in 2002-03. Americans kept coming. American-born players went from about 1% of the spots in 1960-61 to about 29% in 2025-26, and lately more and more of them were born in the South and Southwest, where the league moved in the 1990s.
The teams went south, and the players took 20 years
On Aug. 9, 1988, Edmonton traded Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. Within a decade the league had put eight more teams in the American South and Southwest, five of them new clubs and three moved from colder cities. Every NHL bio of an American-born player lists the state he was born in, so we can see whether the players followed.
In this story the Sun Belt is 15 warm states across the South and Southwest: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Eight of the 15 have had an NHL team at some point: California from 1967-68, Georgia from 1972-73 (both Atlanta teams later left), Florida from 1992-93, Texas from 1993-94, Arizona from 1996-97, North Carolina from 1997-98, Tennessee from 1998-99 and Nevada from 2017-18.
Sun Belt-born players barely gained for 30 years, then climbed
Of the lineup spots filled by American-born players, the share filled by players born in the Sun Belt. NHL regular season, 1967-68 on
Show data
| Season | All 15 Sun Belt states | States without a team |
|---|---|---|
| 1967-68 | 0% | 0% |
| 1968-69 | 0% | 0% |
| 1969-70 | 0% | 0% |
| 1970-71 | 0% | 0% |
| 1971-72 | 0% | 0% |
| 1972-73 | 0% | 0% |
| 1973-74 | 0% | 0% |
| 1974-75 | 6% | 0% |
| 1975-76 | 7% | 0% |
| 1976-77 | 5% | 0% |
| 1977-78 | 4% | 0% |
| 1978-79 | 4% | 0% |
| 1979-80 | 3% | 0% |
| 1980-81 | 1% | 0% |
| 1981-82 | 3% | 0% |
| 1982-83 | 2% | 0% |
| 1983-84 | 1% | 0% |
| 1984-85 | 2% | 0% |
| 1985-86 | 4% | 0% |
| 1986-87 | 2% | 0% |
| 1987-88 | 3% | 0% |
| 1988-89 | 4% | 0% |
| 1989-90 | 3% | 0% |
| 1990-91 | 3% | 0% |
| 1991-92 | 3% | 0% |
| 1992-93 | 2% | 0% |
| 1993-94 | 2% | 0% |
| 1994-95 | 2% | 0% |
| 1995-96 | 2% | 0% |
| 1996-97 | 2% | 0% |
| 1997-98 | 2% | 0% |
| 1998-99 | 2% | 0% |
| 1999-00 | 2% | 0% |
| 2000-01 | 4% | 0% |
| 2001-02 | 4% | 0% |
| 2002-03 | 5% | 1% |
| 2003-04 | 7% | 1% |
| 2004-05 | – | – |
| 2005-06 | 6% | 1% |
| 2006-07 | 5% | 1% |
| 2007-08 | 5% | 1% |
| 2008-09 | 4% | 1% |
| 2009-10 | 3% | 0% |
| 2010-11 | 3% | 0% |
| 2011-12 | 4% | 0% |
| 2012-13 | 5% | 0% |
| 2013-14 | 7% | 1% |
| 2014-15 | 8% | 1% |
| 2015-16 | 7% | 0% |
| 2016-17 | 11% | 2% |
| 2017-18 | 11% | 1% |
| 2018-19 | 12% | 2% |
| 2019-20 | 13% | 2% |
| 2020-21 | 14% | 2% |
| 2021-22 | 15% | 2% |
| 2022-23 | 16% | 2% |
| 2023-24 | 17% | 2% |
| 2024-25 | 17% | 3% |
| 2025-26 | 16% | 2% |
- Eight Sun Belt teams arrive: 1991-92 to 1998-99
- 1988-89: Gretzky traded to Los Angeles
For 30 years the Sun Belt barely gained. Of all the lineup spots filled by American-born players, Sun Belt-born players filled about 1% in 1980-81, about 4% in 2000-01 and about 3% in 2010-11. The number turned up in 2013-14, passed 11% in 2016-17 and peaked at about 17% in 2023-24. The turn in 2013-14 came about 25 years after the Gretzky trade and about 20 after most of the new teams, about the time it takes a child to reach the NHL.
Across the whole league, Sun Belt-born players are still a small group. They filled about 5% of all NHL lineup spots in 2025-26, spread across 47 players, so no single star carries the number.
The jump came with the children born in the 1990s
One season mixes players of every age, so a cleaner check is to sort players by the year they were born. This time each player counts once, however many games he played. Take the American-born players who reached the NHL. Of those born in the early 1980s, about 4% were born in a Sun Belt state with a team. Of those born in the early 1990s, it was about 13%. Of those born in the late 1990s, it was about 15%. Those players were small children, or not yet born, when the teams arrived.
| Born | American-born NHL players | Born in a Sun Belt state with a team | Share | Share, players with 100+ games | Share, without California | Share, without confirmed sons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960-1964 | 96 | 5 | 5.2% | 5.6% | 1.0% | 5.2% |
| 1965-1969 | 117 | 6 | 5.1% | 3.0% | 1.7% | 5.1% |
| 1970-1974 | 104 | 6 | 5.8% | 5.3% | 1.0% | 5.8% |
| 1975-1979 | 109 | 5 | 4.6% | 5.0% | 2.8% | 4.6% |
| 1980-1984 | 140 | 6 | 4.3% | 2.5% | 0.7% | 4.3% |
| 1985-1989 | 174 | 11 | 6.3% | 4.7% | 2.3% | 6.3% |
| 1990-1994 | 206 | 26 | 12.6% | 13.7% | 6.8% | 12.2% |
| 1995-1999 | 196 | 29 | 14.8% | 14.3% | 9.7% | 11.2% |
| 2000-2004 (partial) | 109 | 17 | 15.6% | 14.6% | 9.2% | 13.2% |
Read down the Share column and the number roughly doubles between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The next two columns test that jump.
First, the players who stuck. In the Share column, a player with a handful of games counts as much as a 15-year regular, so we counted again with only the players who lasted at least 100 NHL games. The Sun Belt states with teams supplied about 5% of those born in the late 1980s, then about 14% of both groups born in the 1990s.
Second, California. It had the Kings from 1967, more than 20 years before the teams of the 1990s, so it could be carrying the whole thing. Take it out and the share still goes from about 2% for the late 1980s to about 7% and then 10% for the two groups after.
Put California back in and look at the newest group. Players born from 2000 to 2004 are still reaching the league, and so far about 16% of them come from the Sun Belt states with teams. The last column, without the sons, comes up later.
Auston Matthews is what the league was hoping for
The players the league hoped for look like Auston Matthews. He was born in San Ramon, California, in 1997 and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he grew up “rooting for the Arizona Coyotes,” as NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika wrote. “When I first started playing, I mean, I loved it instantly,” Matthews said. Through 2025-26 he had 780 points in 689 games, second among Sun Belt-born players only to Brian Leetch, a Hall of Famer born in Texas whose story comes later. Because the bios record birthplaces, he counts for California here. Families move for other reasons too, military postings among them, and those moves blur every state’s count the same way.
Matthew Knies, born in Phoenix in 2002, is the purer case. He “participated in the Phoenix Junior Coyotes club program his entire youth career,” Cronkite News reported before the 2022 Olympics. “I’m really fortunate that I came up from Arizona and I can represent them in this kind of stage,” Knies said. He had played 240 NHL games by the end of 2025-26.
For their size, the southern states still make far fewer players
Matthews and Knies were born in a part of the country that was gaining millions of people. The Sun Belt states with teams grew from about 75 million to 91 million people between the two decades, about a fifth more. Their NHL players went from 17 born in the 1980s to 55 born in the 1990s, more than three times as many. Population growth can’t account for that.
Per person, the rest of the US made about 9 times as many NHL players as the Sun Belt states with teams, then nearly 4 times, and the Sun Belt states with teams still trail
American-born NHL players born in each decade, for every million people living there
The rest of the US produced about 9 times as many NHL players per resident as the Sun Belt states with teams among those born in the 1980s, and about 3.7 times as many among those born in the 1990s.
- Sun Belt states with an NHL team
- Sun Belt states without a team
- Rest of the US
So compare places by size. Among players born in the 1980s, the rest of the country made about 9 times as many NHL players for every million people as the Sun Belt states with teams. Among those born in the 1990s, it was nearly 4 times as many, and it is about 3.5 times so far for the 2000s.
Minnesota shows how big the gap still is. For every million people in Minnesota, about 17 NHL players were born there in the 1990s. For the Sun Belt states with teams, it was fewer than one.
Florida, Texas and Arizona went from almost none to a steady supply
Most Sun Belt states have produced too few NHL players to judge alone. We look at a state on its own only if it has at least 10 NHL players since 1917, which leaves four: California (59), Florida (21), Texas (14) and Arizona (12). The three that got teams in the 1990s went from almost nothing to a steady supply. California is the odd one. It had the Kings from 1967, more than 20 years before the teams of the 1990s, yet its NHL players did not pick up in the decades right after. They rose with the players born in the 1990s, like the other three.
Florida, Arizona and Texas jumped with the 1990s births; the rest of the US barely moved
NHL players born in each decade, for every million people living there. States with at least 10 NHL players, and the rest of the US for scale
Show data
| Born in the 1980s | Born in the 1990s | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona (team 1996-97) | 0.00 per million | 1.59 per million | +1.59 per million |
| Florida (teams 1992-93) | 0.09 per million | 0.90 per million | +0.81 per million |
| California (team 1967-68) | 0.45 per million | 0.69 per million | +0.24 per million |
| Texas (team 1993-94) | 0.06 per million | 0.42 per million | +0.36 per million |
| Rest of the US | 2.09 per million | 2.26 per million | +0.17 per million |
Arizona went from no NHL players born in the 1980s to seven born in the 1990s. Read the names behind that number, and four of the seven turn out to be sons of Coyotes.
Some of the new Sun Belt players were the teams’ own sons
Matthew Tkachuk was born in Scottsdale in December 1997, “while his father was playing for the Coyotes,” as his Wikipedia biography puts it. His brother Brady was born there in September 1999. When Keith Tkachuk was traded to St. Louis, the family moved to Creve Coeur, Missouri, and the boys were raised there. Together they had 1,245 NHL games and 1,133 points through 2025-26. Both count for Arizona.
The Tkachuks were not alone. Tage Thompson was born in Phoenix, the son of Brent Thompson, a Coyote in 1996-97; he went to 11 schools around the country. Jesse Ylönen was born in Scottsdale while his father, Juha, played for Phoenix, and played his youth hockey in Finland, with the Espoo Blues. Samuel Helenius was born in Dallas “when his father was a member of the Dallas Stars” and came up through Jokerit’s junior system in Finland. Kerby Rychel, son of the Kings and Ducks enforcer Warren Rychel, was born in Torrance, California, and grew up in Tecumseh, Ontario.
All four NHL players born in Raleigh are sons of men who played for the Hurricanes: Logan Brown, son of Jeff; Jake Leschyshyn, son of Curtis; Kovalenko; and Skyler Brind’Amour, son of Rod. One of those fathers arrived just after his son. Skyler was born in July 1999, when Rod was still a Philadelphia Flyer. Carolina traded for Rod during the 1999-2000 season, and he stayed, first as a player and then as coach.
| Player | Born | Father | Father’s seasons there | NHL games | Games in 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerby Rychel | Torrance, October 1994 | Warren Rychel | 1992-93 to 1997-98 | 43 | 0 |
Continues below
| Player | Born | Father | Father’s seasons there | NHL games | Games in 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tage Thompson | Phoenix, October 1997 | Brent Thompson | 1996-97 | 529 | 81 |
| Matthew Tkachuk | Scottsdale, December 1997 | Keith Tkachuk | 1996-97 to 2000-01 | 673 | 31 |
| Logan Brown | Raleigh, March 1998 | Jeff Brown | 1997-98 | 99 | 0 |
| Jake Leschyshyn | Raleigh, March 1999 | Curtis Leschyshyn | 1997-98 to 1999-00 | 77 | 0 |
| Skyler Brind'Amour | Raleigh, July 1999 | Rod Brind'Amour | 1999-00 to 2009-10 | 6 | 4 |
| Brady Tkachuk | Scottsdale, September 1999 | Keith Tkachuk | 1996-97 to 2000-01 | 572 | 60 |
| Jesse Ylonen | Scottsdale, October 1999 | Juha Ylonen | 1996-97 to 2000-01 | 111 | 0 |
| Nikolai Kovalenko | Raleigh, October 1999 | Andrei Kovalenko | 1998-99 to 1999-00 | 57 | 0 |
| Josh Doan | Scottsdale, February 2002 | Shane Doan | 1996-97 to 2016-17 | 144 | 82 |
| Samuel Helenius | Dallas, November 2002 | Sami Helenius | 2000-01 to 2002-03 | 103 | 53 |
Continues below
| Player | Born | Father | Father’s seasons there | NHL games | Games in 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Robidas | Plano, March 2003 | Stephane Robidas | 2002-03 to 2013-14 | 4 | 2 |
Counting only the pairs we could confirm, at least 12 of the 72 American NHL players born from 1990 to 2004 in a Sun Belt state with a team are sons of NHL players who played there. That is about one player in six. In 2025-26, seven of them were still in the league. Between them they played 313 games that season. All the Sun Belt-born players together played 2,336, so the sons filled about 13 of every 100 of those lineup spots.
Quinn and Jack Hughes are not in that count, because their father, Jim, never played in the NHL. They were born in Orlando, where Jim “was a minor league assistant,” according to ESPN, and the family moved to Toronto in 2006. Count them too, since their father worked in hockey, and the sons together filled about 19% of the spots that went to Sun Belt-born players.
Take the confirmed sons out and the jump is still there. Every son we confirmed was born in 1990 or later, so the late 1980s look the same either way: about 6% of the American-born NHL players born then came from a Sun Belt state with a team. For those born in the early 1990s, the figure is about 13% with the sons and about 12% without them. Either way, the early 1990s come out at about double the late 1980s.
The sons count for most among the players born in the late 1990s, the years the Tkachuk brothers were born. Of the 29 players born from 1995 to 1999 in Sun Belt states with teams, 8 are confirmed sons. Take them out and that group drops from about 15% to about 11%, still well above the late 1980s. Players born from 2000 to 2004 sit at about 13% without the sons so far. That is the last column of the birth-year table. Most of the sons were born in Arizona and North Carolina. Take them all out and the jump is smaller, but it is still there.
There is an older case like theirs. Brian Leetch, the highest-scoring Sun Belt-born player of all (1,028 points), was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and moved to Cheshire, Connecticut, at three months old. “He first learned to play hockey at a local ice rink managed by his father, Jack,” his Wikipedia biography says. He went into the Hall of Fame in 2009. In these numbers he is a Texan.
Josh Doan was both kinds of Sun Belt player
The Tkachuks left Arizona as toddlers, when their father was traded to St. Louis. Josh Doan grew up there and played for the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes. He was born in Scottsdale in February 2002, while his father, Shane, was a Coyote. On March 26, 2024, he scored twice in his NHL debut, a 6-2 Coyotes win over Columbus, and his father “watched from a suite at Mullett Arena.” The Associated Press called him “the son of longtime Coyotes captain Shane Doan.” “All the guys made it so special, made sure I was calm,” he said. It was the Coyotes’ last season in Arizona; the team’s players moved to Utah for 2024-25.
Tennessee is still waiting
Arizona’s new players came both ways, as Coyotes’ sons and as local kids. Some states with teams got none. Tennessee has had the Predators since 1998-99 and has produced no NHL players. Georgia had two teams and three players, none born after 1989. North Carolina has six, four of them the Raleigh sons. Nevada’s team is too recent to judge. And the seven Sun Belt states that never had a team also rose, from one NHL player born in the 1980s to five born in the 1990s. That is too few to read much into, but it points the same way.
| State | First NHL team season | NHL players, all time | Born before 1990 | Born 1990-99 | Born 2000 on | Players in 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1967-68 | 59 | 29 | 22 | 8 | 14 |
| Florida | 1992-93 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 11 |
| Texas | 1993-94 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 8 |
| Arizona | 1996-97 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| North Carolina | 1997-98 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | None | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Alabama | None | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Georgia | 1972-73 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | None | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Louisiana | None | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Continues below
| State | First NHL team season | NHL players, all time | Born before 1990 | Born 1990-99 | Born 2000 on | Players in 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | None | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Nevada | 2017-18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Arkansas | None | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Mexico | None | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 1998-99 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Three pipelines, and a thin one from the South
- The league has three pipelines now. Canada supplied about 41% of lineup spots in 2025-26, the US about 29% and Europe about 29%. The American share peaked at about 30% in 2024-25. That peak is too recent to tell whether the American rise has stopped.
- The Sun Belt now sends real NHL players, but not many. Of the lineup spots that go to American-born players, about 16 in every 100 now go to players born in the South or Southwest, up from almost none. For its population, the rest of the country still makes nearly 4 times as many NHL players as the Sun Belt states with teams.
- Some of the rise came out of the teams’ own dressing rooms. They brought fathers south, and the fathers had sons. The rest is what the league hoped for, kids like Knies who learned the game where they were born.
The record books keep only the birthplace
Kovalenko played 57 NHL games in 2024-25 and none in 2025-26. The one North Carolina-born player in the league last season was Skyler Brind’Amour, who played four games. His father, Rod, coaches the Hurricanes. “It’s always cool to put on the NHL sweater, especially one from your hometown,” Skyler said after his first preseason game for them.
No one born in North Carolina after 1999 has played an NHL game. When someone does, the bios will record his birthplace, as they did for Kovalenko. They won’t say who drove him to the rink.
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Show the work
- Tests written down
- Not in advance (exploratory)
- Results computed
Every NHL regular season from 1917-18 to 2025-26: each player's games played, skaters and goalies, grouped by the birth country and birth state in his NHL bio (8,776 players, 1,488 born in the US; no American bio rows lack a birth state). Shares weight each player by games played (the body calls these lineup spots), so a player who appears in 80 games counts 80 times. The Sun Belt is fixed in advance as 15 states; the eight with teams are dated from the NHL team tables. We also checked the result other ways: distinct players by birth year, a 100-game cut, dropping California, a per-resident rate from Census counts (the mean of the two counts that bracket each decade), the 2000-04 birth cohort as a late check, and the cohort step without the confirmed sons of NHL players. The sons list is hand-coded in the build script: a surname search flagged candidates, and only pairs where an opened page named the son as the player's son and gave his birthplace were kept (Cam York and Ryan Johnson matched by surname and were dropped). Each father's seasons in the son's birth state come from the NHL season totals. A state is read alone only with at least 10 NHL players, so only four Sun Belt states are; the no-team states (one to five players a decade) are too few to read. Before 1970 the small European-born share is birthplaces, mostly Britain and the old Russian Empire, not European hockey.
Continues below
The body rounds numbers; the exact figures are in the charts, the tables and the rows below.
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Canadians fell from about 97% of games to about 41% | 97.0% (1960-61) to 41.4% (2025-26) | Holds |
| Sun Belt states went from about 1% of US-born games in 1980-81 to about 16% | 0.8% to 16.0% (peak 17.1%) | Holds |
| Players born in the 1990s, around when the teams arrived, lifted the share | 6.3% of US-born NHL players born 1985-89, 12.6% born 1990-94; same step with a 100-game cut and without California | Holds |
| Population growth explains it | Per million residents, 0.23 to 0.60; gap to the rest of the US 9 to 1, then 3.7 to 1 | Does not |
| Sons of NHL players born where their fathers played explain the step | 12 confirmed of 72 births 1990-2004 in Sun Belt states with teams (13.4% of Sun Belt-born games in 2025-26); without them 6.3% (1985-89) to 12.2% and 11.2% | Part of it |
More tests below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The European waves faded unevenly | Czech and Slovak peak 11.7% (2002-03), 3.1% in 2025-26; former Soviet peak 10.0% (2000-01), under 5% in the 2010s, 8.2% in 2025-26; Sweden kept climbing and peaked late, 10.8% (2018-19); Finland peak 5.2% (2020-21); Europe peak 33.2% (2002-03) | Holds |
| The Soviet wave came in a rush after 1989 | Former Soviet share almost none in 1988-89, 1.4% in 1989-90, 8.4% in 1993-94 | Holds |
| The Sun Belt line was flat before the 2010s | 0.8% of US-born games (1980-81), 4.4% (2000-01), 3.2% (2010-11); turned up in 2013-14, passed 11% in 2016-17, peak 17.1% (2023-24); 4.7% of all NHL games in 2025-26 | Holds |
Continues below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The birth-year step holds with only players who reached 100 games | born 1960-1964 5.6%; born 1965-1969 3.0%; born 1970-1974 5.3%; born 1975-1979 5.0%; born 1980-1984 2.5%; born 1985-1989 4.7%; born 1990-1994 13.7%; born 1995-1999 14.3%; born 2000-2004 (partial) 14.6% | Holds |
| The birth-year step holds without California (Kings since 1967) | born 1960-1964 1.0%; born 1965-1969 1.7%; born 1970-1974 1.0%; born 1975-1979 2.8%; born 1980-1984 0.7%; born 1985-1989 2.3%; born 1990-1994 6.8%; born 1995-1999 9.7%; born 2000-2004 (partial) 9.2% | Holds |
| The birth-year step holds without the confirmed sons | born 1960-1964 5.2%; born 1965-1969 5.1%; born 1970-1974 5.8%; born 1975-1979 4.6%; born 1980-1984 4.3%; born 1985-1989 6.3%; born 1990-1994 12.2%; born 1995-1999 11.2%; born 2000-2004 (partial) 13.2%. Sons' games in 2025-26: 313 of 2,336 Sun Belt-born games (13.4%); with the Hughes brothers 19.2% | Holds |
Continues below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Players per resident: Minnesota against the Sun Belt states with teams (born in the 1990s) | Minnesota 16.6 per million; Sun Belt states with teams 0.60; the rest of the US against the Sun Belt states with teams 3.5 to 1 so far for the 2000s | Large gap |
| Getting a team is enough | Tennessee 0 players since 1998-99; Georgia 3; states with no team also rose (n tiny) | Fails |
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of NHL players are Canadian?
Canadian-born players filled 41.4% of NHL lineup spots in 2025-26, counting each player once for every game he played. It was 97.0% in 1960-61, and the low was 40.0% in 2024-25.
How many NHL players are American?
American-born players filled 29.1% of NHL lineup spots in 2025-26, up from about 1% in the early 1960s. The peak so far is 30.5% in 2024-25.
Which European country has the most NHL players?
Sweden: 9.9% of NHL lineup spots in 2025-26, ahead of Russia and the other former Soviet states (8.2% combined), Finland (4.1%) and Czechia and Slovakia (3.1%).
Did Sun Belt NHL teams create more American players?
Players born in Sun Belt states with teams went from 4.3% of US-born NHL players (born 1980-84) to 14.8% (born 1995-99). Those players were born around when the 1990s teams arrived and reached the NHL about 20 years later. The timing fits, but Tennessee (0 players) and Georgia did not follow, and birth state is not where a player grew up. So it does not prove the teams caused it.
Are Sun Belt NHL players sons of NHL players?
Some are. At least 12 of the 72 American NHL players born from 1990 to 2004 in a Sun Belt state with a team are sons of NHL players who played for that state's team, including Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, Tage Thompson and Josh Doan, and all four NHL players born in Raleigh. In 2025-26 they filled about 13% of the lineup spots that went to Sun Belt-born players. Without them, the 1990s rise in Sun Belt-born players still holds.
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Sources and method
- NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
- NHL stats API: skater and goalie bios (birth country, state or province, city, games played) and team summaries
- NHL API reference (community documentation of the stats endpoints)
- US Census Bureau: resident population by state, 1910-2020
- NHL.com: This date in NHL history, Aug. 9 (Gretzky traded to the Kings, 1988)
- Wikipedia: Nikolai Kovalenko (born in Raleigh, returned to Russia at two, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey school)
- NHL.com, Nicholas J. Cotsonika: Auston Matthews on his heritage (born in San Ramon, raised in Scottsdale)
- Cronkite News, Alex Suarez: Phoenix native Matthew Knies to represent US Olympic hockey (Feb. 3, 2022)
- Wikipedia: Matthew Tkachuk (born in Scottsdale while his father played for the Coyotes)
- Wikipedia: Brady Tkachuk
- Wikipedia: Tage Thompson
- Wikipedia: Jesse Ylönen
- Wikipedia: Samuel Helenius
- Wikipedia: Kerby Rychel
- Wikipedia: Justin Robidas
- Wikipedia: Logan Brown (born in Raleigh, son of Jeff Brown)
- Wikipedia: Jake Leschyshyn
- Wikipedia: Skyler Brind’Amour (born in Raleigh while his father played for the Flyers)
- CBS17 (AP), Keaton Eberly: Skyler Brind’Amour plays first NHL game coached by his father
- AP via Arizona Sports: Josh Doan scores twice in NHL debut (Mar. 26, 2024)
- Wikipedia: Josh Doan (born in Scottsdale, grew up in Arizona, Phoenix Jr. Coyotes)
- ESPN, Chris Peters: the Hughes family (Orlando, then Toronto from 2006)
- Wikipedia: Brian Leetch (born in Corpus Christi, raised in Cheshire, Conn.)
- Risto Pakarinen: King Salming’s 1000 games (first published on NHL.com)
- NHL.com, Bob Duff: Peter Stastny, 100 Greatest NHL Players
- EBSCO Research Starters: first Soviet hockey player admitted to the NHL (Priakin, March 29, 1989)
- Wikipedia: Igor Larionov (allowed to join Vancouver in 1989-90)
Research and analysis, not betting advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns; bet only what you can afford to lose.