The proportion of Russians in the NHL (on a GP %) is the highest since 2003-04

[WarriorofTime]

An under the radar trend the last few years has been that Russians are accounting for a very much higher percentage of games played, the highest post 2004-05 Lockout. As of now, Russian players have accounted for 6.1 % of man Games Played throughout the League.

The "low" occurred in 2014-15 at 3.2 %. The all time high was 8.2 % in 2000-01.

Last few years trend:

2017-18: 4.1
2018-19: 4.4
2019-20: 4.8
2020-21: 5.5
2021-22: 5.5
2022-23: 5.8
2023-24: 6.2

Click to read more...

 

[Team_Spirit]

Goalies invasion right after the low

 

[HockeyWooot]

The Canucks with sponsor Dan Millstein are big supporters of this iniative lol

 

[Terry Yake]

so what changed?

 

[Kshahdoo]

An under the radar trend the last few years has been that Russians are accounting for a very much higher percentage of games played, the highest post 2004-05 Lockout. As of now, Russian players have accounted for 6.1 % of man Games Played throughout the League.

The "low" occurred in 2014-15 at 3.2 %. The all time high was 8.2 % in 2000-01.

Last few years trend:

2017-18: 4.1
2018-19: 4.4
2019-20: 4.8
2020-21: 5.5
2021-22: 5.5
2022-23: 5.8
2023-24: 6.1

It's fake news. Everybody and their grand-grand aunty knows that Russian government doesn't allow Russian players to come to NHL.

 

[SoundAndFury]

so what changed?

Other than the simple fluctuation, salary cap in the KHL and recent world events made it a less attractive alternative for lower-tier Russian players.

 

[ReHabs]

so what changed?

Russian goalies account for a huge chunk of these games played.

 

[mr figgles]

so what changed?

It‘s not a good time to be a young fit male in Russia.

But mostly, I would imagine the KHL being founded in 2008 has something to do with it. I’m sure they were investing heavily in hockey including youth hockey, and looking at the trend over the last few years you’re seeing those investments bear fruit as those yutes come of age.

 

[Jovavic]

Columbus with Chinakov, Voronkov, Marchenko, Tarasov, and Provorov help this number out

 

[EdJovanovski]

The Kravtsov Effect

 

[mr figgles]

Russian goalies account for a huge chunk of these games played.

I did some quick dirty math and GP by skaters went from around 3% to well over 5%.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

The Kravtsov Effect

He came over, torched the league to set the path for other young Russians, but didn't want to hurt Canadians' feelings by destroying Gretzky's record so he masquerades his play as a terrible player and went back to Russia after accomplishing his task.

Absolute legend.

 

[Acallabeth]

so what changed?

Most importantly, the gap between the KHL and NHL paycheck increased. Both ruble and especially dollar-salaries are much less impressive now (IIRC, Larionov

The MHL-VHL-KHL system becoming much more successful and attractive for the players' development is a big factor as well. There are much more players drafted from Russia the recent years, which translates directly to the number of NHL players. And perhaps fewer player bury their careers in the CHL.

The translation between the leagues is easier than ever. The difference in playing style is also not as obvious as it used to be, the cultural and language barriers have diminished as well, the NHL clubs are not as hesitant to bring the KHL stars over after success of Panarin, Kaprizov, Kuzmenko and so on.

It's also interesting that the current generation of players (1995-2005) represents the era with the lowest amount of births in Russian history.

 

[majormajor]

Most importantly, the gap between the KHL and NHL paycheck increased. Both ruble and especially dollar-salaries are much less impressive now (IIRC, Larionov

The MHL-VHL-KHL system becoming much more successful and attractive for the players' development is a big factor as well. There are much more players drafted from Russia the recent years, which translates directly to the number of NHL players. And perhaps fewer player bury their careers in the CHL.

The translation between the leagues is easier than ever. The difference in playing style is also not as obvious as it used to be, the cultural and language barriers have diminished as well, the NHL clubs are not as hesitant to bring the KHL stars over after success of Panarin, Kaprizov, Kuzmenko and so on.

It's also interesting that the current generation of players (1995-2005) represents the era with the lowest amount of births in Russian history.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also remember that government support for hockey, particularly ice rinks, went way up, in the years around 2010 if I remember correctly.

The trend I'm seeing:

- Soviet trained players were largely responsible for the high water mark of Russians in the NHL, with 8% around 2000.

- Then with the 90s collapse of state funding for sport, the number of youth players fell, this was felt in the NHL numbers 10-20 years later, I think that's most of the decline to the 3% figure in 2015.

- State support goes back up around 2010 - shows up in the NHL numbers a dozen years later.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Most recent cup winners have had at least one significant contributor who is Russian too.

 

[WarriorofTime]

End of season bump. 6.2 % of man games played by Russians this year and 6.5 % of players to make an appearance (min 1 game) boosted by a lot of late season callups.

Broken down by position:

5.6 % of games played by forwards
5.8 % of games played by defensemen (I think people would be surprised that D was slightly proportionally higher than F)
15.6 % of games by a goaltenders (this certainly gets the most discussion).

Here is the 5-year trend across countries (2018-19 percentage of man games played -> 2023-24 percentage and the change)

Canada: 43.6 % -> 42.4 % (-1.2 %)
United States: 27.0 % -> 28.8 % (+1.8 %)
Sweden: 11.2 % -> 9.4 % (-1.8 %)
Finland: 4.9 % -> 4.9 % (+0.0 %)
Russia: 4.4 % -> 6.2 % (+1.8 %)
Czechia: 3.5 % -> 2.7 % (-0.8 %)
Switzerland: 1.5 % -> 1.4 % (-0.1 %)
Slovakia: 0.9 % -> 0.9 % (+0.0 %)
Denmark: 0.9 -> 0.6 % (-0.3 %)
Germany: 0.8 % -> 1.0 % (+0.2 %)

"Other": 1.4 % -> 1.8 % (+0.4 %)