Canada doesn't own hockey.

And maybe that's something we need to start talking about.

In 2015-16, Canadians represented roughly 49% of NHL players.

Today?
42.2%.

Meanwhile, the United States has grown its share.
Sweden continues producing players.
Finland continues producing players.
Russia continues producing players.

The world isn't waiting for Canada.

It's catching up.

And I don't think our response should be:
"We need to create more elite players."

I think we need to ask a much bigger question.

How do we create more hockey players?

Kids who start.
Kids who stay.
Kids who develop at different speeds.
Kids whose families can afford to participate.
Kids who don't have to decide at nine years old whether hockey is going to become their family's entire life.

There is some encouraging news.

Hockey Canada announced more than 615,000 registered players in 2025-26, marking a fifth consecutive season of participation growth.

That's worth celebrating.

But it's also worth protecting.

Because our greatest competitive advantage as a hockey country shouldn't be identifying the best nine-year-olds before everyone else does.

It should be keeping as many nine-year-olds playing as possible.

Create great entry-level experiences.
Make the game accessible.
Develop better coaches.
Keep costs under control.
Give kids multiple pathways.
Stop treating development like a race.
Let late developers develop.
And create environments kids actually want to return to next season.

Then let time do its job.

Because the larger and healthier the base of the pyramid is, the more opportunity there is for excellence to eventually emerge from the top.

Maybe Canada doesn't need to obsess about producing more NHL players.

Maybe we need to obsess about producing more lifelong hockey players.

The NHL players will emerge from that system.

So will the coaches.
Officials.
Volunteers.
Parents.
Fans.

And the next generation of kids who fall in love with the game.

The rest of the world getting better at hockey isn't a crisis.

It's a challenge.

A challenge for Canada to look critically at what we're doing and ask:
Are we building the most sustainable, accessible, affordable, long-term development system we possibly can?

Or are we simply doing what we've always done?

Because hockey doesn't remain Canada's game because we say it is.

We have to build a game Canadians can continue to play.