Is hockey dying in Quebec ?

[ViD]

I don’t understand why this isn’t being brought up more often. Quebec no longer produces hockey talent.

The current best francophone player is Jonathan Marchessault who’s is a good player but he’s not a superstar by any means.

The second best French Canadian player these days is Kris Letang who is about to retire soon.

This is absolutely ridiculous, the drop in talent is worse than in Czechia and Slovakia.

What’s the reason behind this ? The sport popularity is dropping in Quebec? Is it the lack of success by the Canadiens ?

Are there any upcoming québécois young stars?

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[LeafalCrusader]

Yup

 

[NVious]

All the kids started looking up to PLD, at first they only quit on their shifts, then their team and then they just quit hockey all together

 

[majormajor]

I have a couple cousins in Quebec, two families that each have young sons. I'm not even going to ask them if they have plans to put the boys in hockey. They can't even afford day care and the mortgage / rent as is. Those are going to be soccer players.

Edit: to clarify - my cousin just told me the story of his daycare expenses, but those are because he had to pull his kids out of the local public daycare due to behavioral issues (his kids issues? idk). Public daycare is free in Quebec. They do some things well in the Belle Province. Housing costs are up but not nearly as bad there as in Toronto or Vancouver.

The cost of living crisis (which is really just a terrible housing shortage) is nationwide, and hockey is increasingly expensive nationwide, that pressures parents to switch to cheaper sports nationwide. Now why are Vancouver and Toronto producing NHL talent and Quebec isn't? In the last generation hockey has become a sport of the rich, and in that transition Quebec simply didn't follow. There aren't as many rich Quebecers (I'm unsure of the proportions) and the ones they have maybe don't share the passion for hockey that common people have.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

It's been dying for quite some time now. Hockey Quebec is ran by a bunch of dinosaurs who literally don't care about player developement. It's also criminally expensive.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Hockey is absolutely dead in Quebec compared to where it was for 1920s-1970s births.

From ~1925-1965 Quebec was outputting almost as much elite talent as Ontario.

In the top 100 Canadians in scoring

52 born in Ontario
12 born in Quebec
12 born in BC
5 born in Manitoba
5 born in Alberta
4 born in Nova Scotia
4 born in Saskatchewan
3 born in USA
1 born in PEI
1 born in Yukon
1 born in Czechia

Quebec has about 60% the population of Ontario, but 23% the NHL players.
Alberta has fallen off big too. Saskatchewan no longer the massive heavy hitter it was, where it was the number one per capita by far in Canada for 50+ years.
There has been a general decline of hockey in Canada, but the loss in the old heartlands of Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Alberta is made up for a little bit by the explosion in BC and Nova Scotia.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

Yes for multiple reasons

 

[amnesiac]

Its really too bad considering its place in hockey history. Of course the Habs dynasties who had many many Quebecois legends.

Could just be too expensive for today's parents to invest in putting their kids through years of hockey compared to back in the day. Trying to afford a house, 2 cars and 2 kids is hard enough as it is in today's economy. Adding the cost of enrollment fees, equipment, spending a lot of time with transportation to games/practices adds up physically and mentally. Quebec does have the highest taxes on the continent too which doesnt help.

Could also be a question of poor development but also possibly just a lack of popularity amongst the youth since the Habs havent been competitive in so long.

 

[MNRube]

Hockey has become a sport for rich kids and nepotism. The ones that make the NHL work hard of course, but so many are guys who spend every summer taking power skating and shooting classes. It’s no longer the athletic ones, it’s the one with resources. It’s why every year there are a half dozen former players kids taken in the first 2 rounds. It’s easy to advance in hockey if your parents throw $$ at specialized training.

 

[HisIceness]

I can't speak for Quebec but where I live it seems like there's fewer kids playing than there was 10-15 years ago. Some of that is there's only 3 sheets of ice in the area (at one point there was supposed to be more, but it's never materialized), thus having to fight traffic and whatnot just to get there. But really the biggest obstacle is that every other sport is more accessible and cheaper.

I have a friend whose son (age 11) wants to play Ice Hockey. He simply doesn't have the time nor does his wife to drive him there, not to mention frankly it's just easier to have him play Basketball.

It's a damn shame because I feel there's a lot of potential not coming to fruition, but I completely understand.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Lafreniere didn't quite live up the hype right away but is getting better.

Huberdeau was good and then fell off hard.

Drouin has not been very good, but sometimes is ok.

Dubois is sometimes good but inconsistent.

Prospects can kinda come and go and are hard to predict once they get in the NHL.

I think the bigger concern is that they really aren't even producing high end draft prospects the last few drafts since then. Lafreniere was a late 01, drafted 1st in 2020. Then you have Zachary Bolduc and Xavier Bourgault, mid 1sts in 2021. Nathan Gaucher and Maveric Lamoureux as mid to late firsts in 2022. Then no 1sts in 2023, and you look at 2024, and will there any be 1sts? Possibly not for a second straight year.

They are really lagging behind year compared to years past.

 

[NextBigThing]

Soccer has passed hockey in Quebec and soon will in all of Canada. The country is changing.

 

[These Are The Days]

It's also suffering a lot because we have an entire generation of non-English speaking Quebec without any kind of a team and no bond to Montreal. Bring back the Nords and you'll see the tide turn in 10 years like it has for the prairies with the return of the Jets

 

[BB79]

It's also criminally expensive.

This is true everywhere

 

[WarriorofTime]

Soccer has passed hockey in Quebec and soon will in all of Canada. The country is changing.

I think you are underrating basketball, look at Jamaal Murray and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. For like 20 years it felt like it was Steve Nash and nobody from Canada. A lot of people think Canada may medal at the Summer Olympics.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

It's the whole of Canada that weighs less and less in the NHL.

However, it is true that it is poor today but just like Czechia and Slovakia, there has been improvement observed in recent years.

Players born in the 2000s are better than those born in the 1990s.

This will soon be seen with Desnoyers, Guité or Joseph. Among others.

 

[Number 57]

The problem is the QMJHL.

The already have a complete system of high school, cegep and university teams set up all over the province and should use these for long-term players development instead of taking part in the Canadian Hockey League, which is a business first and foremost.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Soccer has passed hockey in Quebec and soon will in all of Canada. The country is changing.

A future where hockey is third or fourth in Canada seems inevitable.

Basketball has already surpassed hockey for under 20s. Both in participation and viewership.

Soccer is right there too. Participation is ahead and viewership is slowly rising.

Football is rapidly approaching hockey in viewership but is way behind in participation.

It should really be treated as a crisis by the NHL.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The problem is the QMJHL.

The already have a complete system of high school, cegep and university teams set up all over the province and should use these for long-term players development instead of taking part in the Canadian Hockey League, which is a business first and foremost.

Are you suggesting the QMJHL would be best served breaking away from Hockey Canada and going independent, similar to the BCHL? That would be an interesting proposal. Very few QMJHL players make the NHL, so it could help players long-term by allowing them to preserve NCAA eligibility. I've never seen that idea floated around before, but it could make a lot of sense. Of course players from the region would still be allowed to leave for the OHL, which would take the territory (and there'd likely have to be a re-alignment with the WHL as well, so that it's more of an East/West thing overall as far as how the country divides up for CHL purposes).

 

[WarriorofTime]

A future where hockey is third or fourth in Canada seems inevitable.

Basketball has already surpassed hockey for under 20s. Both in participation and viewership.

Soccer is right there too. Participation is ahead and viewership is slowly rising.

Football is rapidly approaching hockey in viewership but is way behind in participation.

It should really be treated as a crisis by the NHL.

Soccer has always had really high participation in the U.S. compared to other sports, but it doesn't really translate up. Generally, it's just a very low barrier to entry sport and very easy to organize at a community level, but in the U.S. not very many continue on up to the elite track that feeds into professional ranks.

With hockey, it's becoming much more "elite track" or bust, with the community hockey gradually dying out.. but the elite tracks are still flourishing in that they aren't decreasing in scope (if anything, increasing, look at the academies people are willing to fork up for to put their 13 year olds into in Western Canada) and even as costs go up and up, there still seem to be a lot of people willing to pay. I don't think anyone will view it as a crisis until the demand for those elite tracks goes away. For now, it seems like more of a regional situation with those tracks not keeping pace in certain parts of the country, than a national one in Canada.

 

[Cup or Bust]

The amount of money and time parents and kids have to spend to try and compete at elite youth levels of hockey is ridiculous. The hockey parents I know, their whole lives are consumed by their kids hockey schedules, travelling, summer training, evenings and weekends going from one arena to another.

Obviously if you just want to play casually or for fun the time and money investment would not be as much but you likely won't reach a very high level and maybe in Quebec that is how they view playing hockey at this point, as more casual and for fun, rather then an expensive grind for their family. Maybe that is why less players are reaching elite levels. Maybe less are playing as well, I don't know what the stats are for their hockey registration.

As others have said it is so much cheaper and convenient to play sports like basketball and soccer, I am sure that has an impact as well. I am sure there are a number of factors.

 

[Puckstop40]

Hockey is a niche sport and very expensive if you want to play at a decent level. Hockey has exploded in popularity here in Vegas but one of the hardest things is getting ice time. It is growing in nontraditional markets. It really is a shame it’s dwindling in a province that has delivered some of the best players to play the game.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Soccer has always had really high participation in the U.S. compared to other sports, but it doesn't really translate up. Generally, it's just a very low barrier to entry sport and very easy to organize at a community level, but in the U.S. not very many continue on up to the elite track that feeds into professional ranks.

This used to be the case in Canada but it's rapidly changing. Kids are increasingly moving to Europe in high school to be part of soccer programs.

Adult rec soccer is now outpacing hockey in participation in hockey mad Regina.

MLS viewership is steadily increasing. Premier League is on TSN now. And the Canadian Premier league weathered covid, grew from 7 to 8 teams, and is looking to grow to 12 by 2030.

The money being put into soccer is exploding in Canada

 

[bossram]

Hockey is dying all over Canada. It's a rich kids sport.

 

[BLNY]

I don’t understand why this isn’t being brought up more often. Quebec no longer produces hockey talent.

The current best francophone player is Jonathan Marchessault who’s is a good player but he’s not a superstar by any means.

The second best French Canadian player these days is Kris Letang who is about to retire soon.

This is absolutely ridiculous, the drop in talent is worse than in Czechia and Slovakia.

What’s the reason behind this ? The sport popularity is dropping in Quebec? Is it the lack of success by the Canadiens ?

Are there any upcoming québécois young stars?

There have been threads about this, but it has been a while. The decline really began before the last Habs cup in 1993 when the league started looking for bruising power forwards and put skill and playmaking second. Many youth in the late 90s and 00s shifted their focus to football.

As mentioned already, hockey is simply cost-prohibitive for many. Gear, fees, travel teams, etc.; it's always been a tough ask for families. Cost of living having sky-rocketed the last 4 years means that fewer and fewer families can manage it.