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Originally Posted by DAChampion
If you go back far enough, all Canadians were of either French or British extraction, not even "European".
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Well...no. The Canadian population is still about 4% First Nations, and there were Dutch immigrants in North America right from the start, and Germans and Italians not long after. Jason Spezza's family could have been in North America for more than 200 years for all we know.
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Aside from the increase in talent due to European players, you have to account for rapid population growth in Canada, which also increases the talent people.
If you double the North American population, and add in European immigration, the total talent pool is now about 4x larger.
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Four times larger compared to what date? It's much more than four times larger if you compare it to the 1890's, when really only Ottawa, Montreal and a few outlying towns comprised the entirety of the hockey-playing world. But hockey spread very rapidly in Canada...
At any rate, you're making an argument that everyone here already assumes.
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Never mind the fact that training methods and diet have improved.
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Irrelevant, as is equipment. Evaluating greatness on a curve taking the talent pool into account is appropriate. Penalizing older players because they didn't have access to modern technology and methodology is just silly.