Yes that is kind of strange. It is also interesting to see that the expansion into "new" markets in the US has not paid of in players (yet?).
I was also a bit surprised that the players from Finland followed the demographic for Finland in general so well, i.e. most players from the South. I think so as Sweden has an unproportional high number of players from the North (with only about 1/9 of the population).
Hmm..could that be because of football? In Finland hockey is the undisputed number one sport pretty much everywhere. With some minor exceptions.. Maybe that's not the case in south of Sweden?
Something I've wondered for a while, but couldn't verify until now: we talk about the post-USSR period as if 143 million Russians were suddenly added to the NHL talent pool. But in reality, Russia produces most of its players from only a couple of concentrated areas. Compare their map to any of the other major hockey countries and the uneven distribution is striking. While I'm sure this mirrors the population distribution to an extent, it certainly appears as though Russia is the only major hockey country that doesn't consistently produce players from rural towns. That means its actual talent pool is much smaller than the population figure would suggest.
Hmm..could that be because of football? In Finland hockey is the undisputed number one sport pretty much everywhere. With some minor exceptions.. Maybe that's not the case in south of Sweden?
True that Football is number one in Sweden expect some regions. That could be a possible explanation for Sweden's part. But still I found the number of Finnish NHL-players in the North and Middle (e.g. Vasa & Jyväskylä) of Finland as strikingly few.
It is also interesting to see that the expansion into "new" markets in the US has not paid of in players (yet?).
guys who were born around the same year these "new market" teams (TB, Flordia, Anaheim, SJ, etc) were founded are just now turning 18-21...i'd give it another generation before we would start to see kids who grew up on San Jose Sharks hockey, for example, entering the NHL
True that Football is number one in Sweden expect some regions. That could be a possible explanation for Sweden's part. But still I found the number of Finnish NHL-players in the North and Middle (e.g. Vasa & Jyväskylä) of Finland as strikingly few.
Vaasa is one of the few places where I think football is more popular, and next year Sami Vatanen from Jyväskylä will be in NHL. All in all, there are so few Finnish players in NHL that pure chance plays a big part when it comes to the representation of these smaller towns. The fact that there's no one from Tampere is a bit confuddling, but I guess that's also just an anomaly that'll even out with time.
Vaasa is one of the few places where I think football is more popular, and next year Sami Vatanen from Jyväskylä will be in NHL. All in all, there are so few Finnish players in NHL that pure chance plays a big part when it comes to the representation of these smaller towns. The fact that there's no one from Tampere is a bit confuddling, but I guess that's also just an anomaly that'll even out with time.
Sharks just signed their second bay area prospect.
For those who don't know, Ylitornio/Övertorneå are basically one town. Tornio river separates the town though and that happens to also be the border river between Finland and Sweden. For example, everyone is pretty much fluent in both Swedish and Finnish languages on both sides and you can use both currencies (Euro and Swedish Krona) in local markets.
True that Football is number one in Sweden expect some regions. That could be a possible explanation for Sweden's part. But still I found the number of Finnish NHL-players in the North and Middle (e.g. Vasa & Jyväskylä) of Finland as strikingly few.
Yes, it's all about soccer down here. Hockey is a complete non-factor in Scania and you have to consider it an accomplishment that there's three NHL players from here despite that. 22 NHL players from Norrland and 3 from Scania kind of speeks for itself though considering Scania is more populous than Norrland.
I think you're missing Jason Zucker who was born in Newport Beach, CA from the list, it's pretty understandable mistake though, since he made his debut last week. Or do you want the players to have played a certain amount of games before counting them in?
