The NHL is one of the oldest sports leagues on the planet. It’s spawned heroes and zeros and given us more blood, guts and gore than the Roman gladiators in the Coliseum.
A glance at the teams that make up the
NHL is revealing. It’s all fight-to-the-death kind of stuff with weapons, battle weary combatants and wild weather the inspiration behind team names. Think Buffalo Sabres, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes and you’ll know what I mean.
NHL is hand-to-hand combat on ice... and the sticks, pucks and ever-so sharp skate blades are the weapons of choice. Let’s take a look at a few facts that’ll turn non-believers into battle-hardened NHL fans:
It’s ‘Hej’ from Sweden
The NHL is one of the few times in North American sports when Canadian dudes actually outnumber their southern neighbours. For the longest time Canucks have predominated as NHL players. One nationality that’s slowly but surely creeping into the league is the blond, blue-eyed and vodka swilling Swedes. In the 2017/18 season, league players from Sweden almost hit the ten percent mark. The Finns, Czechs and Russians are way behind!
Not the Big Money League
Unlike NBA, NFL and top ranked ATP tennis players – who by the way will be fighting it out for the end of year Nitto ATP finals, 11 to 18 Nov – NHL stars earn peanuts. In fact, teams are prohibited from paying players more than $15 million a year.
When you consider a superstar like Roger Federer banked $77.2 million in earnings in 2018, it hardly seems fair that the top grossing players in the NHL earned a paltry $13, 8 million!
Who were the unlucky fellows? No less than three time Stanley Cup winners and Chicago Black Hawks team mates, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Toews upped his total takings to $16 million thanks to $2.2 million from endorsement partners like Chevrolet, Upper Deck and Canadian Tire.
What About Danger Pay?
Tennis and basketball players may tweak a muscle or stretch a tendon here and there. NHL ice hockey players on the other hand are in mortal danger every time they hit the ice. High velocity pucks to the throat, fractured skulls and broken limbs are all in a day’s work.
Along with broken noses, smashed jaws and digits gnawed through to the bone, slices and dices to the jugular vein, carotid artery and surrounding neck tissue are one of the more nasty hazards of competing in the NHL.
Two players who turned the ice bright red with blood were Clint Malarchuk and Richard Zednick. Both had a close shave with death when their throats were nicked by an opponent’s blade. Only the ministrations of a quick-thinking Vietnam vet saved Malarchuk’s life, while Zednick lost five units of blood!
They Play Ice Hockey There?
We all know countries in the colder climes play ice hockey. However, there are some weird and wonderful places that also dig the idea of warfare on skates. Steaming hot nations that actually belong to the International Ice Hockey Federation include Kuwait, Brazil, Singapore and Macau. Even African countries like Zambia, Namibia and South Africa enjoy a swing, swipe and bellow... on the ice!
Worst-Ever Trade in NHL History
Teams trade players to shore up their talent but one team that got it wrong was the New York Islanders. In the 2000 NHL season they traded goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers. The man went on to become a two-time Second All-Star, the winner of the William M Jenning’s trophy and the league’s most valuable player in 2007!
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