James Mirtle has been creating some interesting graphs mapping out where NHL players have come from throughout history. Today, he took a look at NHL players from the big three hockey states in the US: Minnesota, Michigan, and Massachusetts.
Here is the graph.
The biggest trend is one that has been talked about a couple of different times here, and that is the decline of hockey players from Massachusetts. While Minnesota and Michigan are on the rebound after a slight decline near the turn of the century--during the NHL's europhilia phase--Massachusetts has been in a steady decline, and as Mirtle points out, with vets like Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Bill Guerin near the end of their careers and few promising reinforcements on the way, those numbers should continue to decline.
The most common theory for why it be how it be is that the Boston Bruins have almost completely fallen off the sports radar in the city of Boston. The good news is that with the recent creation of a salary cap, the NHL has become egalitarian to the point that even the penny-pinching Bruins are able to compete, and if there is one thing the city of Boston loves--besides white people-- it's a winner. I mean, their baseball team somehow gained sovereignty after winning a title. The Bruins currently lead the NHL's Eastern Conference and a couple years of playoff success could change the sporting landscape there.
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2 comments:
All I know is that last year I could've fielded 11 and half NHL teams last year with players who played in the NCAA. At the All-Star break I'll update that list(on my blog) and see how they went up or down..
"and if there is one thing the city of Boston loves--besides white people-- it's a winner"
So, does this statement include the 40+% of Bostonians that do not identify as white? I seriously doubt it. I'm sure what you had in mind was white Bostonians. You were obviously trying to use humor to hint at the old cliche, "Boston is racist". However, for some of us, your humor fails because of the inherently white supremacist thinking it conveys. And yes, this is true regardless of your own racial identity. Before you make a comment implying that someone else is racist you should stop and carefully examine your own thinking. If you do this often enough eventually your thoughts will become less exclusive and more inclusive. Good luck.
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