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Border Wars: NHL 2012-13 Games Played By Country

Which countries or origin were the most productive in 2012-13?

By Derek Zona
Abelimages

Some interesting numbers* from the 2012-13 NHL Season:

# Birthplace % of GP
1 Canada 52.9%
2 United States 23.8%
3 Sweden 6.5%
4 Czech Republic 5.1%
5 Russia 3.2%
6 Finland 2.5%
7 Slovakia 1.3%
8 Denmark 1.0%
9 Switzerland 0.9%
10 Germany 0.9%
11 Belarus 0.4%
12 Austria 0.4%
13 Ukraine 0.3%
14 Slovenia 0.2%
15 France 0.2%
16 Kazakhstan 0.2%
17 Latvia 0.1%
18 Lithuania 0.1%
19 Norway 0.1%
  • Canadians totaled 52.9% of games played by skaters, with Americans coming in at 23.8% of games. The other 17 nations account for only 23.3%
  • Before Don Cherry starts wagging his finger, the leagues best team, the Chicago Blackhawks, had players from just five countries: Canada 42.9%, Sweden 21.8%, United States 21.1%, Czech Republic 8.3%, Slovakia 5.9%. The Blackhaws used far less Canadians and far more Swedes and Slovaks than the NHL average on their way to the cup.
  • The Blackhawks didn't use a Russian during the regular season, the third cup-winning team in the last four years to win a cup without a Russian.
  • The Oilers went with players from six countries: Canada 56.9%, United States 14.7%, Czech Republic 10.0%, Finland 6.7%, Sweden 6.1%, Russia 5.6%.

*Data culled from HockeyDB