for those who are hockey fans, the stats have come out and North American's playing in the NHL are declining

From the Canadian Press on Wednesday:

Some statistics on 2001-02 NHL rosters:

375 Canadians, or 52.3% of opening night rosters, a record low.

241 Europeans, or 33.6% of opening night rosters, a record high.

101 Americans, or 14.1%, lowest since 1984.

I think the thing to look at here is the NHL teams are spending a TON of cash to scout overseas. A lot of Swedes and Finns are coming into the NHL and it is because the teams are scouting better, and of course, throwing more cash thier way.

On the other hand the AHL, ECHL, CHL, and WCHL are almost all (I would say 90%) North Americans.