what's the percentage of canadian hockey players in the nhl
slightly less than 50%
title: Sports in the United States text: former Soviet bloc flocked to the NHL beginning in the 1990s. Today, slightly less than half of NHL players are Canadian, more than 20% are Americans, and virtually all of the remainder are European-trained. (For a more complete discussion, see Origin of NHL players.) Notable NHL players in history include Wayne Gretzky (leading all-time point scorer and 9 time MVP), Mario Lemieux (3 time MVP), Guy Lafleur (2 time MVP), Gordie Howe (6 time MVP), Nicklas Lidström (7 times NHL's top defenseman), Bobby Hull (3 time MVP and 7 time leading goal scorer, Eddie Shore (4 time MVP), Howie Morenz title: Race and ethnicity in the NHL text: Sweden, and Finland. The share of Canadians in the league dropped to 75% by the 1980s and is now slightly less than 50%. In 2011, the NHL was composed of 93% of players who identified as white, with the remaining 7% identifying as varying ethnicities. A number of ice hockey leagues for players of African descent formed in Canada as early as the late-19th century. The Coloured Hockey League was an all-black ice hockey league established in 1895. Operating across the Maritime provinces of Canada, the league operated for several decades until 1930. Although other ice hockey leagues saw integration title: National Hockey League text: in more "skilled offensive players", although recently there has been a decline in European players as more American players enter the league. The addition of European players changed the style of play in the NHL and European style hockey has been integrated into the NHL game. As of the 2017–18 season, the NHL has players from 17 different countries, with 46.0% coming from Canada and 26.0% from the United States, players from a further 15 countries make up 26.4% of NHL rosters. The following table shows the six countries make up the vast majority of NHL players. The table follows title: National Hockey League text: Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. The league is very prominent in Canada, where hockey is the most popular of these four major sports as alongside CFL. Overall, hockey has the smallest total fan base of the four leagues, the smallest revenue from television, and the least sponsorship. The NHL holds one of the most affluent fan bases. Studies by the Sports Marketing Group conducted from 1998 to 2004 show that the NHL's fan base is much more affluent than that of the PGA Tour. A study done by the Stanford Graduate School of title: Sports in Canada text: teams in Canada: the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and the Winnipeg Jets. The Canadian NHL presence peaked with eight teams in the mid-1990s, before the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1995 and a previous incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996. The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated and became the current Winnipeg Jets. The league, founded in Canada, retains a substantial Canadian content as roughly half of its players are Canadian. "Hockey Night in Canada" is a longtime national