Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,146
This past season put it at 45% of the NHL being Canadian. 27% American which has been a huge jump in the last decade and I believe the best European country is Sweden at 9%. I remember the late 1990s/early 2000s when the idea was that eventually the NHL is going to be at least half Europeans when all is said and done but the opposite has happened. Euros dropped a bit, as did Canadians, and Americans skyrocketed.
So here is the thing, how much longer can Canada maintain this level of having approximately half of the NHL? Not to mention we still have about half the star players too. Half of the best forwards, half of the best defensemen and half of the best goalies are all still Canadian, but can it stay that way? The U.S. is climbing rather fast.
Looking at the past World Junior medal winners you see a difference. Canada won 5 in a row in the late 2000s. Not bad, and the U.S. was more or less nowhere to be found those years. They won a bronze in 2007 during that time, that's it. But starting in 2010 it has looked like this:
U.S. 6 medals (3 gold, 3 bronze)
Canada 6 medals (2 gold, 3 Silver, 1 bronze).
Granted, Canada still has the edge here. In this decade we have still played in 5 gold medal games to U.S.A.'s 3. We are there more often, but prior to 2010 the U.S. won a total of 5 medals (just one gold in 2004) in 33 years. Now in 9 years a total of 6.
My question is, how can Canada get even better? How can we stay ahead of the curve where we still get half of the best players? How do we win all these tournaments going forward? For what it is worth the U.S. hasn't won a best on best since their only time in 1996. Canada since then has won 5 in 7 tries. In the World Championships the U.S. never does well, even today. And there hasn't been a spike at all in the last decade for them either. They still perform lousy in this tournament while Canada usually gets enough interest from players and has two golds and a silver in the last three tournaments.
All I am saying is, how much longer before Canada loses its grip? Or have we already and is it only a matter of time? Or is there nothing to worry about?
So here is the thing, how much longer can Canada maintain this level of having approximately half of the NHL? Not to mention we still have about half the star players too. Half of the best forwards, half of the best defensemen and half of the best goalies are all still Canadian, but can it stay that way? The U.S. is climbing rather fast.
Looking at the past World Junior medal winners you see a difference. Canada won 5 in a row in the late 2000s. Not bad, and the U.S. was more or less nowhere to be found those years. They won a bronze in 2007 during that time, that's it. But starting in 2010 it has looked like this:
U.S. 6 medals (3 gold, 3 bronze)
Canada 6 medals (2 gold, 3 Silver, 1 bronze).
Granted, Canada still has the edge here. In this decade we have still played in 5 gold medal games to U.S.A.'s 3. We are there more often, but prior to 2010 the U.S. won a total of 5 medals (just one gold in 2004) in 33 years. Now in 9 years a total of 6.
My question is, how can Canada get even better? How can we stay ahead of the curve where we still get half of the best players? How do we win all these tournaments going forward? For what it is worth the U.S. hasn't won a best on best since their only time in 1996. Canada since then has won 5 in 7 tries. In the World Championships the U.S. never does well, even today. And there hasn't been a spike at all in the last decade for them either. They still perform lousy in this tournament while Canada usually gets enough interest from players and has two golds and a silver in the last three tournaments.
All I am saying is, how much longer before Canada loses its grip? Or have we already and is it only a matter of time? Or is there nothing to worry about?
If you go back and look at the first three years after the draft went to 7 rounds the US produced 60 or more picks each year and a total of 27 (8, 9, 10) went in the first round.
