This map plots 6,871 North American born players going back to the 1917-1918 inaugural.
Each players birth city was geolocated down to the county level based on what data was available.
There were a few players without data in the set so its technically not every player. I also cant guarantee the original data set had every player to begin with. This seems to be pretty close tho so I went with it lol
I made the map on ArcGIS and shared it there for everyone.
Interactive ArcGIS; https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=87dea755c0034d5593d0258408d253dc
Player data: https://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi
Geocoding: https://www.geoapify.com/
Here are the numbers by Canadian Province, US State and other countries.
Canada
| Province | Number of NHL Players |
|---|---|
| Ontario | 2,398 |
| Quebec | 870 |
| Alberta | 642 |
| Saskatchewan | 527 |
| British Columbia | 410 |
| Manitoba | 404 |
| Nova Scotia | 78 |
| New Brunswick | 55 |
| Prince Edward Island | 34 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 31 |
| Northwest Territories | 5 |
| Yukon | 3 |
US State
| State | Number of NHL Players |
|---|---|
| Minnesota | 304 |
| Massachusetts | 221 |
| Michigan | 194 |
| New York | 139 |
| Illinois | 78 |
| California | 56 |
| Wisconsin | 41 |
| Pennsylvania | 39 |
| Connecticut | 36 |
| Ohio | 33 |
| New Jersey | 30 |
| Missouri | 23 |
| North Dakota | 20 |
| Rhode Island | 20 |
| Colorado | 19 |
| Florida | 18 |
| New Hampshire | 15 |
| Alaska | 14 |
| Washington | 14 |
| Indiana | 12 |
| Texas | 12 |
| Arizona | 10 |
| Maine | 8 |
| Oregon | 7 |
| Virginia | 7 |
| Oklahoma | 5 |
| Utah | 5 |
| Iowa | 4 |
| Nebraska | 4 |
| North Carolina | 4 |
| Alabama | 3 |
| District of Columbia | 3 |
| Georgia | 3 |
| Maryland | 3 |
| Idaho | 2 |
| Montana | 2 |
| South Carolina | 2 |
| Vermont | 2 |
| Delaware | 1 |
| Louisiana | 1 |
| Mississippi | 1 |
| Nevada | 1 |
| South Dakota | 1 |
Other Countries
| Country | Number of NHL Players |
|---|---|
| Sweden | 405 |
| Czechoslovakia | 294 |
| Finland | 259 |
| USSR | 241 |
| Russia | 104 |
| Czech Republic | 47 |
| Germany | 40 |
| Switzerland | 42 |
| United Kingdom | 50 |
| Denmark | 18 |
| France | 14 |
| Slovakia | 13 |
| Austria | 11 |
| Latvia | 10 |
| Poland | 9 |
| Norway | 9 |
| Belarus | 6 |
| Ireland | 5 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Slovenia | 3 |
| Yugoslavia | 3 |
| Brazil | 2 |
| East Germany | 2 |
| Japan | 2 |
| Netherlands | 2 |
| Nigeria | 2 |
| Republic of Korea | 2 |
| Venezuela | 2 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Bahamas | 1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Brunei Darussalam | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 1 |
| Croatia | 1 |
| Haiti | 1 |
| Indonesia | 1 |
| Jamaica | 1 |
| Kazakhstan | 1 |
| Lebanon | 1 |
| Lithuania | 1 |
| Paraguay | 1 |
| South Africa | 1 |
| Taiwan | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| United Republic of Tanzania | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 1 |
And here are the top 11 cities players come from, from around the world:
- Toronto, ON: 435
- Montreal, QC: 271
- Edmonton, AB: 205
- Winnipeg, MB 200
- Ottawa, ON: 170
- Calgary, AB: 152
- Regina, SK: 95
- Saskatoon, SK: 89
- Moscow, Russia: 72
- Sudbury, ON: 68
- Stockholm, Sweden: 66
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