Of North America’s four major professional sports leagues, the NHL is the only one where the bottom team doesn’t normally call themselves a “World Champion”. In the NFL and NBA, winners often use that title, and in baseball, “World” is literally part of the championship series’ name. Ironically, the NHL is a league where it can make the most sense.
The NHL today is a veritable United Nations General Assembly. Sure, Canada and the US still supply the majority of the league’s players, but at the start of the 2021-22 NHL season, 22 different countries were on the team roster. And it’s not just token representation.
Consider the number of countries whose players will be competing for the major titles to be awarded this year. The Hart Trophy as Player of the Year seems to be a race between two Canadians (Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau), a German (Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers) and an American (Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs)). The Norris Trophy for best guard appears to be a three-horse race, with thoroughbred crosses from Switzerland (Roman Josi of Nashville Predators), Canada (Cale Makar of Colorado Avalanche) and Sweden (Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay Lightning).
How about the best goalkeeper of the tournament? That will go to the Russians, Swedes, Finn or Dane, with Russians Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning favorites alongside Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames (Sweden), Juuse Saros of the Predator (Finland) and Frederik Andersen of Hurricane Carolina (Denmark).
Another German, Detroit Red Wings’ Moritz Seider, looks like he might be the favorite for Calder Trophy winner as best rookie, but he’ll have to face The competition is fierce, with, among others, a Swede (Red Wings teammate Lucas Raymond), an American (Trevor Zegras of Anaheim Ducks) and a Canadian (Michael Bunting of Toronto).
Want more proof of the NHL’s growing international taste? Think about this amazing fact. The top 15 Voters for Calder Trophy 2020-21 include representatives from nine different countries. The list includes Russian winner Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild and his compatriot Shesterkin, as well as a Czech (Vitek Vanecek of Washington, D.C.), a German (Tim Stűtzle of Senator Ottawa), a a Swiss (Pius Suter of the Red Wings), a Swede (Nils Höglander of the Vancouver Canucks) and a Belarusian (Yegor Sharangovich of the New Jersey Devil), along with one Canadian, four Americans, and three Finns. One of the Americans was runner-up Calder Jason Robertson, whose mother was born in the Philippines.
There are several other notable players from across the league from underrepresented countries. Los Angeles Kings features veteran star Anze Kopitar from Slovenia as well as rookie Arthur Kaliyev, a U.S. citizen born in Uzbekistan. Columbus Blue Jackets-trot global with goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins from Latvia and striker Alexandre Texier from France. Then came Zdeno Chara of Slovakia (New York Islander), Mats Zuccarello of Norway (Minnesota Wild), Anton Khudobin of Kazakhstan (Dallas Stars), Bulgarian-Russian citizen Alexandar Georgiev (NY Rangers Team) ) and Leo Komarov of Estonia. And don’t forget Nathan Walker of St. Louis Blues, who is said to have the most uncertain background in the league, with his ancestry described as Welsh Australian.
The incredible diversity of the NHL’s talented pool is testament to the steady growth of hockey worldwide, thanks at least to the NHL’s concerted effort in playing both matches. pre-season and regular matches in the European and Asian markets. Since the 1990s, the NHL has played more than 60 matches in Europe, six in Japan and four in China.
In addition to the NHL Global Series games, where NHL teams play against each other in different cities abroad, NHL teams have also traveled to Europe to play against European teams in exhibition challenges. NHL teams have entered games against the likes of Northern Ireland’s Belfast Giants, SKA St. Petersburg of Russia, HC Liberec of the Czech Republic, Dinamo Riga of Latvia, MODO of Sweden and Adler Mannheim Eagles of Germany.
It is perhaps no coincidence that players like Draisaitl, Seider, and Stűtzle have all spent time in the Mannheim Eagles development program, just as it is no coincidence that Auston Matthews of Scottsdale, Arizona originated the game to watch seasons Phoenix’s first (now Arizona) Coyote. Watch it, love it, live it.
The game once dominated by Canadians is now a game shared by countless players from countless countries. The quality and creativity of the players in the league has never been better, and with such a large pool of players to attract, that quality and creativity is likely to continue to improve. Midfoot goals and passing-style goals have become popular. What will be next?
As the scope of the tournament continues to grow, I expect the winners of the NHL knockouts to continue to call themselves Stanley Cup Champions, not World Champions. It’s just more respectful than other leagues that will continue to exist globally. That said, there’s no question that the NHL players are all world-class.
