NHL Players by Country 2024

The country that ranks first on the list of NHL players by country is the nation of Canada. This has remained the case for quite some time, as Canada is well-known for producing excellent hockey players. In total, there are 485 active Canadian players in the NHL currently.

These Canadian players have played 154,149 games across their entire careers. This is far greater than even the country with the second-most players in the NHL. The prominence of Canada on such a list is little surprise, given Canada's love of hockey and the many great hockey players to come out of Canada.

The United States Has The Second-Most Players in the NHL

There are 319 active players from the United States in the NHL at present. These 319 active players have played 88,869 games across their careers. The fact that the United States is second in terms of NHL players by nationality is not surprising, given that most NHL teams are based in the United States. Twenty-five out of the 32 NHL teams are based in the United States. The other 7 teams are based in the United States' northern neighbor of Canada.

Sweden Accounts for the Third-Most NHL Players

So far, the list of NHL players by country has likely been relatively unsurprising to you. Canada and the US accounting for the most and second-most players in the NHL make sense given the relevant factors. However, one country that you might not have expected to be so high on this list is Sweden.

The nation of Sweden has the third-most players in the NHL, only behind the United States and Canada. There are a total of 106 currently active Swedish players in the NHL. These Swedish players account for 10% of all the active players in the NHL now.

There Are 57 Russian Players in the NHL

You might have expected Russia to be above Sweden on this list. However, there are still a decent number of Russian players in the NHL. There are 57 currently active Russian players in the NHL right now.

In terms of percentages, Russian players account for 5.4% of all the currently active players in the NHL now. These currently active Russian NHL players have played 14,675 NHL games in their careers. This is quite impressive given the fact that there are only 57 currently active Russian players in the NHL today.