It’s unfortunate how expensive playing hockey is becoming.
Another example of a player we might not have seen with today’s relative cost of playing, whose impact on the game was immeasurably vast, was Börje Salming. He and his brother lost their father in a mining accident when Börje was five, and they were raised by a poor widow. In the 50s and 60s, you could apparently come a long way with your brother’s oversized, raggedy old equipment playing pickup hockey on frozen lakes.
Furthermore, I feel like the number of family connections in today’s NHL says a thing or two about the barriers for kids from average or low-income households to make it to pros these days.