Fewer NHL players now come from Saskatchewan — why?

Fewer and fewer NHL players are now coming from Saskatchewan now than in the past — and there are differing opinions on why that is.

This season, just 20 players from Saskatchewan have dressed for a National Hockey League team, associate Carleton University journalism professor Randy Boswell recently reported in The Hockey News.

Included in that number are the Seattle Kraken's Jordan Eberle and a handful of players on the defending Stanley Cup championship team, the Vegas Golden Knights.

But the number is about a third of what it was in the 2009-10 season, when there were 57 Saskatchewan players in the NHL.

At times, nearly 10 per cent of NHL players have been from Saskatchewan, Boswell told guest host Adam Hunter in a Tuesday interview with CBC Radio's Afternoon Edition.

"There is an incredible hockey culture in the province," Boswell said, calling it a factory of NHLers.

"Obviously Saskatchewan is doing something right, because they still are producing NHL players at a higher rate than anybody else on the continent. It's just that their dominance isn't as great as it used to be."

Saskatchewan isn't the only region with dropping numbers on NHL rosters, according to Boswell — it's Canada-wide.

In 2003-04, there were 20 Quebec-produced goalies in the NHL. Now there are four.

Boswell doesn't believe Canada's official winter sport has lost its fame at home, but it's gained traction elsewhere. 

"There is increasing competition from … U.S. states," especially northern states like Minnesota, he said.

"The United States, and Europe of course, are producing high-calibre hockey players in a way that they never had in the past."

LISTEN | Randy Boswell on why there are fewer Sask. NHL players: 

At Saskatoon's Merlis Belsher