For context:
I'm involved in public policy, and there's a phenomenon that social scientists and economists have noticed in the past 30 years: a consolidation of opportunity, resources, social capital, and institutional knowledge by ~10% - 20% of the population. A class Richard Reeves calls the "dream hoarders." I'd be happy to speak more broadly about this in my DMs if you are interested, but I'm making this post because I think it applies to the hockey world as well.
Basically, I don't think it's true anymore that hockey is just a rich, white guy's sport. It has become controlled by a select, shrinking number of families.
I remember 10 years ago how big a deal the Staal and Sutter families were for being so ingrained in hockey. And everybody could name the handful of brothers who played in the league simultaneously.
Now, it seems like every other NHLer (and every high end prospect) has a family member who was a professional athlete either in the NHL or in Europe. I.e. the likelihood of a boy making it to the NHL is becoming more and more dependent on whether or not he was born to a family who has already made it.
The little project I'm undertaking is trying to figure out how much more common it has become over time for any given NHLer to have professional sports ties. What I am currently doing is looking at the Florida Panthers rosters in 2021, 2016, and 2011, and going through the players to see if they have any of these familial connections. EliteProspects has a great feature that helps with this.
Obviously I'm not going to do this for all teams, but if you are interested in answering this posts' titular question, look up your favorite team's roster in 2021, 2016, and 2011, and let's see if there are any trends that can be found.
Florida Panthers 2021.....33% (11/33) have a family connection
- Spencer Knight (cousin is a female pro)
- Kevin Connauton (brother was an NCAA Division I)
- Gustav Forsling (brother was a pro in Sweden)
- Radko Gudas (father was drafted by the Flames, sister was a Czech Olympian, brother-in-law is Michael Neuvirth)
- Mackenzie Weegar (uncle played in NHL)
- Keith Yandle (uncle worked in NHL front offices, brother played in ECHL)
- Aleksander Barkov (uncle was a pro in Finland and Russia)
- Grigori Denisenko (brother is a pro in Russia)
- Mason Marchment (father played in NHL, cousin played in AHL, cousin is a female pro)
- Owen Tippett (cousin is Mitchell Stephens)
- Alex Wennberg (cousin is a pro in Sweden)
Florida Panthers 2016.....35% (13/37) have a family connection
- Roberto Luongo (brother is an AHL goaltending coach)
- Brian Campbell (brother played in ECHL)
- Erik Gudbranson (brother played in AHL)
- Jakub Kindl (brother is a pro in Czechia)
- Dylan Olsen (uncle was a pro in Germany)
- Aleksander Barkov (uncle was a pro in Finland and Russia)
- Nick Bjugstad (uncle played in NHL)
- Connor Brickley (father drafted by Kings, cousins played in AHL)
- Jiri Hudler (father was a pro in Czechia)
- Jussi Jokinen (brother was a pro in Finland)
- Greg McKegg (uncle played in NHL)
- Kyle Rau (brother played in NHL)
- Reilly Smith (brother is Brendan Smith)
Florida Panthers 2011.....18% (7/40) have a family connection
- Tyler Plante (father and brother played in NHL)
- Keaton Ellbergy (cousins are Shane Doan and Carey Price)
- Niclas Bergfors (brother was a pro in Sweden)
- Michael Frolik (brother was a pro in Czechia)
- Mike Santorelli (brother played in the AHL)
- Cory Stillman (son is Riley Stillman, father played in the NHL)
- Stephen Weiss (uncle is NHL coach)