OT: Albertan NHLers

[Aerrol]

It's the off-season and I figured why not start a vaguely OT discussion.

I was talking with a friend the other day and noticed that there seems to be an oddly low number of Albertan NHLers, especially in comparison to BC and Sask. This seems weird to me given our passion for hockey and the number of hockey programs Edmonton at least has.

Any possible explanations? Am I just wrong? Off the top of my head I can think of Ebs from Sask and RNH and Lucic from BC.

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[XXIV97]

Colton Parayko and Mike Green were born in Alberta.

 

[snipes]

Parayko is awesome. Good northern Albertan kid, likes to have fun when he's home.

I'm going to buy a Parayko jersey I think, it'll be the only non-Oiler jersey I have (outside of Team Canada of course).

 

[Apathetic]

You can see all active Alberta players here

Saskatchewan

BC

BC looks like the most impressive of the bunch. Alberta seems to be getting up there in age with not much young elite talent imo, maybe Benson and Steel can get things going like they were once projected to. For now I would say Alberta has a decent amount of NHLers but things look rough in ~5 years. It seems like highly touted Alberta born players like McNeil, Rattie and Morrissey are closer to busting than becoming impact NHLers which is concerning.

 

[Aerrol]

You can see all active Alberta players here

Saskatchewan

BC

BC looks like the most impressive of the bunch. Alberta seems to be getting up there in age with not much young elite talent imo, maybe Benson and Steel can get things going like they were once projected to. For now I would say Alberta has a decent amount of NHLers but things look rough in ~5 years. It seems like highly touted Alberta born players like McNeil, Rattie and Morrissey are closer to busting than becoming impact NHLers which is concerning.

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for.

So numbers wise, I was definitely flat out wrong. But you're right, our top talent is definitely getting up there in age. Hopefully we have some more young kids pull a Parayko and totally surprise, haha.

 

[Replacement*]

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for.

So numbers wise, I was definitely flat out wrong. But you're right, our top talent is definitely getting up there in age. Hopefully we have some more young kids pull a Parayko and totally surprise, haha.

The interesting thing about this is you could be wrong DUE TO media bias which will constantly say things like Burnaby Joe (Sakic) or Good ol Saskatchewan kid, and that often specifically, and often, denote where kids hail from more frequently when it involves kids from other provinces. Could this at all be an extension of the CBC generalized attitude towards Alberta. That nothing good comes from Alberta. I know we like to think no bias occurs like that. But I'm pretty convinced it does.

At best CBC in telecasts (now Rogers too) romanticize certain areas of the country and only furthered by "hockey day in" and that Alberta really isn't viewed in that light. In media, for some reason, its considered a nice story if you're a kid hailing from Saskatchewan, as if the province of birth defines you, and that narrative gets spun almost every telecast. Never more so than during the Cherry era. Tough Saskatchewan kid. Who hasn't heard those themes?

 

[Aerrol]

The interesting thing about this is you could be wrong DUE TO media bias which will constantly say things like Burnaby Joe (Sakic) or Good ol Saskatchewan kid, and that often specifically, and often, denote where kids hail from more frequently when it involves kids from other provinces. Could this at all be an extension of the CBC generalized attitude towards Alberta. That nothing good comes from Alberta. I know we like to think no bias occurs like that. But I'm pretty convinced it does.

At best CBC in telecasts (now Rogers too) romanticize certain areas of the country and only furthered by "hockey day in" and that Alberta really isn't viewed in that light. In media, for some reason, its considered a nice story if you're a kid hailing from Saskatchewan, as if the province of birth defines you, and that narrative gets spun almost every telecast. Never more so than during the Cherry era. Tough Saskatchewan kid. Who hasn't heard those themes?

Definitely agree that there's an Ontario bias (e.g. Don Cherry's famous GOOD OLE ONTARYA BOY), but I've never really noticed a bias against Alberta over Sask or BC myself. The broadcasts have gotten biased in favour of our rivals as we've continued our suck, but I honestly think part of that is media over-correcting for their old "these young Oilers sure are gonna be good!" that they used to spout back in 2011-2014 or so. I also don't pay that much attention though.

 

[MessierII]

Taylor Hall, Parayko, Tyler Ennis there's some good young players coming from here. Hopefully guys like Benson develop. Edmonton as a city pumps out amongst the most NHL players pure numbers wise but their hasn't been a high end guy since bowmeester.

 

[Zaddy]

Aside from Benson and Steel in last years draft Jost, Bean, Hart and Clague were also picked high. Between the six of them you'd hope at least 1-2 would end up as impact NHLers down the road. Then last year you had DeBrusk, Merkley, Guhle, Nielsen. No star there but some of them should be NHLers. Same in 2014 with Bleackley, Quenneville, Pollock, Point and Hickey. Overall though seems like there's not that many great Albertans these days in the league compared to other canadian provinces and it doesn't look like it'll change anytime soon.

 

[Mr Positive]

Some years ago it was a bit better. The Flames had Iginla, Bouwmeester and Phaneuf in their primes. Smyth was good. There were others from that time I cant recall. Goaltending has been a weakness for a long while.

 

[rwr]

There is Mason Raymond and Joe Colborne. I also know a guy in the New Jersey farm system that's also from Alberta