Race and ethnicity in the NHL

The first player to break the NHL colour barrier was Indigenous Native American Taffy Abel on November 16, 1926. Larry Kwong became the first Asian to play in the NHL in 1948. In 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first NHL player of African descent. The NHL has made an effort to create a more diverse and inclusive institution. In 2011, 93% of NHL players identified as white, with the remaining 7% identifying as varying ethnicities. In the 2025–26 NHL season, there were between 23 and 26 active black players in the NHL.

History of representation

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. Other minor ice hockey leagues saw integration in the early 20th century, including the Quebec Senior Hockey League. However, the major league did not. The precursor to the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Hockey Association (NHA), was founded in 1909. The NHL came into existence when the NHA was suspended in 1917.

The first player to break the NHL colour barrier was Indigenous Native American Taffy Abel, when he joined the New York Rangers on November 16, 1926. Abel, who was Ojibwe, was forced to hide his Native American ancestry until 1939 after he retired. He played with the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks between 1926 and 1934. During his career, he was a member of two Stanley Cup championship teams. Abel is also a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Abel was a silver medalist in ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics and the U.S. flagbearer for those games, making him the first Native American to play, and to win a medal, in the Winter Olympics.

Henry Maracle played eleven games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers during the 1930–31 season. A member of the Mohawk tribe, Maracle was the first full-blooded First Nations hockey player in the National Hockey League at the time of his recall to the New York Rangers in March 1931. In 1953, Fred Sasakamoose was the first Cree NHL player, and he became the second Canadian indigenous player in the NHL, debuting with the Chicago Black Hawks.

On March 13, 1948, Larry Kwong became the first Asian to play in the NHL, playing with the New York Rangers. Born in Vernon, British Columbia, Kwong was a Chinese Canadian of Cantonese descent.

Herb Carnegie was the first black player to play on ice in a professional hockey game. In 1948, Carnegie was given a tryout with the New York Rangers and offered a contract to play in the Rangers' minor league system. However, he was offered less money than he was earning in the Quebec league and turned down all three offers made by the Rangers organization during his tryout. On January 18, 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first Black Canadian to play in the NHL. Playing with the Boston Bruins, he was also the first NHL player of African descent. Val James was the first African American player to play in the NHL, called up by the Buffalo Sabres in 1982. His stints with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs were short-lived and he eventually retired in 1987 due to injury.

In the 1970s, there were zero African-American players in the NHL. That number rose to 26 in the 1980s, then to 32 in the 1990s. Though seemingly minute, it was a significant change in the racial demographic of the NHL at the time.The number of black NHL players was 26 by the end of the 20th century and sat at 32 in 2016.

7 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

Racism and discrimination

Herb Carnegie

Herb Carnegie was a Canadian ice hockey player of Jamaican descent. He played for semi-professional teams, including the Toronto Young Rangers in Toronto, but also northern Ontario and Quebec, but was also the first Black player to play on ice in a professional hockey game. In one notorious 1938 incident, Conn Smythe, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is alleged to have commented to the effect that he would accept Herb Carnegie onto the team (the Leafs) if he were white, or that he would pay $10,000 to anyone who could turn Carnegie white.

In 1948, Carnegie became the first known Black player to be given a tryout and offered a contract by an NHL's team's organization (although not directly by an NHL team), when he was given a tryout with the New York Rangers and offered a contract worth $2,700 to play in the Rangers' minor league system. However, he was offered less money than he was earning in the semi-professional Quebec Provincial League, and turned down all three offers made by the Rangers organization during his tryout.

John Utendale

In 1955, John Utendale became the first Black player to sign a contract directly with an NHL team, the Detroit Red Wings. Utendale practiced with the Red Wings but never played in an NHL game; instead, he played with the Edmonton Flyers, as they were the Red Wings' minor league affiliate. In 2006, Utendale's brother claimed that Red Wings coach Jack Adams had refused to give Utendale any playing time on the Red Wings because Adams objected to his relationship with a white woman whom Utendale later married.

Willie O'Ree

During the 1957-58 season, Canadian-born Willie O'Ree became the first player of African descent to play a game in the NHL, making his debut on January 18, 1958 with the Boston Bruins, playing against the Montreal Canadiens.. Playing a short career of only 45 games, O'Ree faced racism after being recalled from the Canadian minor leagues. While in the minor leagues, O'Ree recalls the racism he faced as predominantly muted. However, as soon as O'Ree entered into the NHL, racist remarks and actions by hostile fans and players appeared. While playing in America, O'Ree recalled one racial incident where Chicago Blackhawks forward Eric Nesterenko yelled racial slurs at O'Ree and butt-ended O'Ree with his stick. The event caused fights to break out between all players of each team and a police escort was required for O'Ree to leave the building safely. O'Ree has stated that racism had not affected him in his playing career. In addition, any racial slurs, according to him, "would go in one ear, and out the other." O'Ree cites his brother as his main inspiration to become the first black player. He found that if the fans were against him playing because of his skin color, he may as well ignore it and focus on what he does best. This motivation led Willie O'Ree to be named the "Jackie Robinson" of ice hockey by the NHL community.

When O'Ree first entered the league as the first ice hockey player of African descent, he received no recognition from the league or the media. The media did not publish any articles that the color line in ice hockey had been broken. Some newspapers who reported about the first game O'Ree played confused O'Ree's first name Willie, as Billy. O'Ree himself noted, "It didn't really dawn on me then," that he had broken the color barrier in professional ice hockey. When Val James first entered the league in 1981, the NHL did not make any recognition of him being the first African American in the NHL.

O'Ree currently serves as the NHL Diversity Ambassador and aims to raise participation in ice hockey by all races through hosting programs at local ice arenas. These programs include learn-to-skate clinics as well as youth ice hockey development clinics for children of multi-ethnic backgrounds. The main goal of the clinics is to increase the diversity of ice hockey and allow children who are unfamiliar with the sport to have a chance at trying it out. The clinics also address the issue of race within the ice hockey community. O'Ree's personal goals are to communicate that, "Your race can't keep you from succeeding," to the younger children and to share how he overcame the racism he faced during his career.

Val James

Val (Valmore) James, the first U.S.-born African American hockey player called up by the Buffalo Sabres in 1982, refrained from openly discussing his experiences with racism in the league until three decades after retiring from the sport. James's short career was spent with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres. James recalls fans taunting him with racial slurs as well as players committing penalties and fights against him because of his skin color. The depth of his ordeal was so profound that he reported being unable to watch hockey for a full decade without being haunted by memories of discrimination in the league.

"When I started skating, I set out to be a hockey player, not a black hockey player," he wrote. "However, the two concepts quickly became intertwined. And not by choice. From early on, there were some people who were determined to prove that being black and being a hockey player were mutually exclusive."

James found the most intensive racism to be in the United States. During his career with the Buffalo Sabres, Val James recalls beer bottles being thrown at him when entering the arena as well as fans shouting racial slurs at him. Further insights into James's life and experiences can be found in the autobiography Black Ice: The Val James Story, authored by Valmore James and John Gallagher.

Modern day

Modern-day racial incidents in the NHL come in many different forms; however, the most prominent are player and spectator interactions. According to an interview with Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly, "As a Black hockey player, he [Smith-Pelly] knew exactly what they meant by, 'Basketball, basketball, basketball!'" In this case, the spectators were taunting Smith-Pelly that he is better suited to play basketball, since the majority of players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) are African American. Smith-Pelly states that this incident was "just ignorant people being ignorant."

Many other racist incidents during games have also occurred. During a preseason game, while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, Wayne Simmonds had a banana thrown at him by a fan. Simmonds' response to this event was very similar to Smith-Pelly's. He believes that a strong example should be set by including a zero-tolerance policy in the NHL. With this policy enacted, any racist remarks or gestures would cause an immediate ejection from the arena and a subsequent ban from attending that organization's games.

In December 2025, at a game between the Dallas Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs, several Stars fans seated in a group in the upper deck of the American Airlines Center repeatedly stood and made Nazi salutes after the Stars scored goals. The fans' behavior was captured on video, but it did not go viral or attract press attention until the following March. The Stars subsequently tracked down the fan who had purchased the block of tickets for the group and banned him indefinitely from the American Airlines Center for violating their Fan Code of Conduct.

Player activism

Black Lives Matter

Several NHL players took action in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2010s and 2020s.

On September 28, 2017, before a preseason season game versus the Florida Panthers, J. T. Brown of the Tampa Bay Lightning raised his fist during the U.S. national anthem, in an attempt to "bring awareness to police brutality and inequality for minorities." He did the same on an October 7 game also against the Panthers, becoming the first NHL player to protest during the anthem in a regular season game. He stated that he had "received death threats" after the protest. In the week following, he and a few teammates met with members of the Tampa Police Department after receiving an invitation from the interim police chief. On October 18, Brown announced that he would no longer raise a fist during the anthem, but would continue to work to bring awareness around issues of police brutality and other racial inequalities and injustices.

After the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, NHL players formed the Hockey Diversity Alliance.

Ryan Reaves, who was one of only two Black players on the roster for the Vegas Golden Knights, organized his team in a demonstration on July 30, 2020. During the national anthem before their exhibition game against the Arizona Coyotes, the players locked arms and bowed their heads. Reaves decided on locking arms because not everyone on the team was comfortable kneeling during the anthem.

On August 1, 2020, Matt Dumba, a Filipino-Canadian member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, became the first NHL player to kneel during the U.S. national anthem. Though he was a member of the Minnesota Wild, he was not playing that night. While he knelt, two Black players from the teams who were playing placed their hands on his shoulders: Malcolm Subban of the Chicago Blackhawks and Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers. The three of them remained in this position during both the American and Canadian national anthems. Dumba then gave a speech about racial equality while the screens in the rink displayed the messaged "END RACISM." The action was coordinated with the NHL.

Several days later, on August 3, 2020, Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights approached Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars before the two teams played each other. He told Seguin that he planned to kneel during the anthem. Seguin agreed to join him. Seguin then told the locker room about what he planned to do, and Jason Dickinson from the Stars volunteered to join him. Reaves, who is Black, and three white players—Seguin, Dickinson, and Knights goalie Robin Lehner—knelt for both the American and Canadian national anthems.

Later that month, the Hockey Diversity Alliance successfully called for the NHL to suspend games following the shooting of Jacob Blake. The NHL postponed their scheduled games for August 27 and 28. These games were part of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Efforts by the NHL to increase inclusion

In September 2017, the NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), along with 17 other hockey organizations, released the league's Declarations of Principles. The eighth principle reads:

All hockey programs should provide a safe, positive and inclusive environment for players and families regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. Simply put, hockey is for everyone.

This became part of the NHL's "Hockey Is For Everyone" initiative. Soon after, in December 2017, the NHL hired Kim Davis as Executive Vice President of Social Impact, Growth Initiatives & Legislative Affairs, with a particular focus on improving diversity within the league.

In 2019, the NHL designed a Black History Month mobile museum. The mobile museum is a part of the "Hockey is For Everyone" campaign and is aimed to celebrate Black History Month. The mobile museum is also a commemoration of the black players who have played in the NHL. The museum completed an eight-city tour in February, with its final stop being outside the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has supported his players' wishes by including the zero-tolerance policy for racism. According to Gary Bettman, "Even if it's only one incident it is one too many." The NHL has taken increasing action in the past few years against racist events, even banning four fans from the United Center and all future Chicago Blackhawks events. Commissioner Gary Bettman has also raised awareness of racist incidents around the league by dedicating the month of February to "Hockey is for Everyone Month". The event starts on February 1, the same date as Black History Month, and has the goal of raising awareness of equality throughout the league. Players tape their sticks with pride tape that represents awareness of equality, respect, and inclusion. In addition, many different programs take place across the nation to include players with disabilities. The event is also promoted through social media with the hashtag #HockeyIsForEveryone.

Although the NHL has taken strong actions against racism in the league, players still believe there is a large issue at hand. Most players, including Smith-Pelly and Evander Kane of the Edmonton Oilers, believe that the NHL has still a long way to go. In their words, race as an issue in the NHL will continue to exist, due to similar incidents occurring in the NHL both sixty years ago and today. O'Ree has a hopeful outlook for the future of ice hockey's diversity. He has stated, "There's more kids of colour playing hockey today than ever before, and more girls." Furthermore, many players are optimistic that the NHL community has gathered around to protect its players from racist incidents.

About how to increase inclusion of Black players in the NHL, Davis said in 2020:

And our particular situation in our sport is different [than in the NFL], because we don’t necessarily currently have a pipeline of black and brown coaches within our system that we can point to. So our issues are more fundamental. How do we source and identify in the youth hockey system, as well as players who retire who want to be coaches—how do we create and formalize development programs and mentoring programs to create that pipeline of talent?

In 2020, the NHL and NHL Coaches’ Association developed the NHLCA BIPOC Coaches Program, a BIPOC coaching mentorship program to complement its similar program for women coaches. The first group included 40 coaches.

As of 2026, several teams currently hold Black excellence nights or Black history nights to celebrate Black culture and players.

Current players

Demographics

The NHL first expanded its representation of player nationalities in the 1970s, with players joining the league from the United States, Sweden, and Finland. The share of Canadians in the league dropped to 75% by the 1980s and was slightly under 50% by 2012.

The NHL does not keep statistics on the percentages of ethnicities in the league. However, outside sources have collected statistics on the number of black players in the NHL as well as the percentage of white players in the NHL. A Sports Illustrated article in 1999 attributed the increase in black NHL players, in part, to significant demographic changes in Canada, the country which supplies the largest share of the league's players: "In 1971 there were only 34,445 blacks in Canada ... 25 years later, after heavy immigration from British Commonwealth nations in the Caribbean, Canada had 573,860 blacks (2% of the population) ...."

In 2011, 93% of NHL players identified as white, with the remaining 7% identifying as varying ethnicities. According to a 2015 article by USA Today, 97% of the NHL was white, while the other 3% was made of different ethnicities. Of the 3% of the remaining ethnicities, twenty-six were black. Twenty of the twenty-six black players are from Canada while six were American. In 2019, the NHL was made up of 47.4% Canadians, 25.4% Americans, 9.0% Swedes, and the rest is made up by Russia, Finland, and a few other nations. In the 2025–26 NHL season, there were between 23 and 26 active black players in the NHL.

Black players

Notable players of African descent include Dustin Byfuglien, who is of Norwegian, African, and Swedish descent; Kyle Okposo, who is of Nigerian descent; and Joel Ward, whose ancestors are from Barbados.

Quinton Byfield of the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL set a record for being the highest-ever selected black player in the NHL entry draft when he was picked by the Los Angeles Kings at second overall in the 2020 NHL entry draft. The Kings signed Byfield to a three-year, entry-level contract on October 16, 2020.

Non-black minorities

In addition to black and white players, other races and ethnicities represented in the NHL include players of Asian, Latino, and Middle Eastern descent.

Auston Matthews is Mexican-American. He is a center and captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is widely considered as one of the best players in the world with his all-around game and shot threat.

The Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki is Japanese-Canadian. Suzuki is one-quarter Japanese and is considered Gosei, as his great-great grandparents immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s. He has expressed his desire to become a role model for younger Japanese and other Asian hockey players.

Kiefer Sherwood plays for the San Jose Sharks and is Japanese-American.

Other staff

The NHL released its first inclusion and diversity report in 2022. The self-reported data showed that among all NHL employees, including players and other staff, 83.6% were white; 4.17% were Asian; 3.74% were Black; 3.71% were Hispanic or Latino; 0.5% were Indigenous; 1.81% selected "Other"; and 2.48% selected "Prefer not to answer."

Management

In July 2022, the San Jose Sharks hired Mike Grier as general manager, making him the first black American to serve as general manager.

Officials

On April 3, 2001, Jay Sharrers made NHL history as the first black referee to officiate an NHL game. He worked his first game as an NHL ref when the Philadelphia Flyers faced the visiting Florida Panthers.

Agents

In 2020, the only African American agents in the NHL Players' Association were Eustace King, Brett Peterson and Harkie Singh.

Career statistics

Bold = Currently playing in NHL
Italics = Stanley Cup champions
* = Yet to have played an NHL game for their respective team

African descent

Asian descent

NHL career

These are the top-ten players of Asian descent by career points, goals, and assists. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; G/G = Goals per game; A/G = Assists per game

Franchise career

These are the top-ten players of Asian descent, by career points, goals, and assists, when counting only their production with a specific franchise. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.