American Made

The winner of the first Maurice Richard Trophy, to be awarded to the NHL’s top goal scorer, is likely to deliver his acceptance speech with a distinctly New England accent.

As Massachusetts native Tony Amonte of the Chicago Blackhawks and Vermont native John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers compete neck and neck--followed by Massachusetts sons Keith Tkachuk of the Phoenix Coyotes and Bill Guerin of the Edmonton Oilers--the goal-scoring race has a strong American flavor.

It’s not a surprise: LeClair has scored 50 or more goals each of the last three seasons, Amonte has averaged more than 34 goals the past three seasons and Tkachuk, who in 1996-97 became the first American-born player to lead the NHL in goals, has twice reached 50. (Three-time goal scoring leader Brett Hull pledged his hockey allegiance to the U.S. but was born in Canada).

LeClair and Amonte are also strong contenders for the scoring title, which no U.S.-born player has won. Players born or trained in the U.S. have won the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman seven times and the Vezina as the best goaltender five times, but the Art Ross Trophy is the final hockey frontier for Americans.

“The U.S., outside of Doug Weight and Pat LaFontaine, hasn’t produced anyone with those kind of numbers,” said Ron Wilson, who coached Team USA to victory in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey but couldn’t match that at the Nagano Olympics. “For a while, all we were producing was goalies and defensemen. Now we’re starting to produce forwards and back off on defensemen, although Bryan Berard should develop into a top-notch defenseman who will follow in the footsteps of [Norris Trophy winners] Chris Chelios and Brian Leetch.

“Certainly, at some point an American is going to lead the NHL in scoring. Johnny LeClair could do it. Tony Amonte could do it. The whole package depends on the team you play with and who you play with. I always thought Doug Weight had the ability to do it, but circumstances haven’t been favorable for him. Neal Broten had the talent, but he was competing with Wayne Gretzky.”

Amonte, who is tops in goals with 21 and ninth in points with 31, was surprised to learn no U.S.-born player had been a scoring champion. “That will be coming in the near future,” he said. “If I had to put money on it, I’d say Keith or John LeClair will do it.”

As the birthplace of the NHL, Canada has dominated demographically. Canada provided 96.7% of NHL players in 1967-68, the season of the first major expansion, but that had fallen to 61.1% this season because of the influx of Europeans. Americans didn’t arrive in big numbers until 1979-80, when they accounted for 11.6% of NHL players, and weren’t factors in the scoring race until recently. The percentage of U.S.-born players hit 17.9 in 1994-95 but fell to 15% early this season, also because of the European wave.

“I don’t like to see that trend at any time for any reason,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, the sport’s administrative body. “Our goal is to hit 20% and go the other way. It’s our goal not only to build a base but to build quality of players as you move up the pyramid.”

Bobby Carpenter became the first American-born player to reach 50 goals when he scored 53 for Washington in 1984-85. The skillful Broten, a Minnesotan who played on the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team, became the first American to score 100 points when he scored 105 for the Minnesota North Stars in 1985-86. The top-scoring Americans in NHL history are New York City native Joe Mullen, who had 1,063 points; defenseman Phil Housley of St. Paul, Minn., and the Calgary Flames, with 1,040, and LaFontaine, a St. Louis native who grew up near Detroit. He scored 1,013 points before repeated concussions forced him to retire this year.

“Americans have been a solid group in the NHL for only the last 20 years, so [an American scoring champion] will happen eventually as more and more Americans play the game and play in the NHL,” said Mighty Duck center Ted Drury, a Boston native who played on the 1992 and 1994 Olympic teams.

“There are a lot of great Americans in the league now, and in the World Cup people saw that. Before that, there wasn’t the depth in Canada Cups and world championships. I think now, pretty much, from top to bottom, the best American players can match the best Canadian players.”

LeClair also sees equality nearing. “With hockey becoming more and more popular in the United States it’s something that’s a possibility down the line,” he said. “It’s a matter of time before those things start to average out a little bit. You look at the success that the American teams had with the World Cup and things like that, and the program has definitely picked up.”

LeClair was among the top 10 scorers three of the last four seasons, the only American to do so. With 37 points, he’s third behind Eric Lindros and the Mighty Ducks’ Paul Kariya but heads a group of five Americans in the top 23. The top finish for a U.S.-born player is second: In 1991-92, Kevin Stevens was runner-up to Pittsburgh teammate Mario Lemieux, 131-123, and in 1992-93 Lemieux trailed LaFontaine by 18 points on March 10 but scored 56 points in his last 20 games to win, 160-148.

Not that it’s embarrassing for Americans not to have won a scoring title. No one else has broken the stranglehold of Canadians Gretzky and Lemieux and Czech winger Jaromir Jagr, who have won all 18 titles since 1981.

“We’re still new in hockey in terms of competing for trophies. But no Canadian player scored 40 goals in the NHL last year. You go back and find when that happened,” said Art Berglund, senior director of international administration for USA Hockey and general manager or personnel director of 20 U.S. teams at major competitions. “The game has been dominated by the Jagrs and [Pavel] Bures. It’s not a Canadian game--it’s an international game. . . .

“Constant expansion gives more opportunities to American players. We might have 100 or so playing in the league, but how many are impact players? In that respect we’re right there with Canada, Russia and the Czech Republic. We have as many impact players as they do.”

Many key players on the NHL’s most successful teams are Americans who participated in USA Hockey development programs. Tkachuk’s center is Boston native Jeremy Roenick, who has 30 points, and the Coyotes’ defense is steadied by Keith Carney of Providence, R.I. The Stars’ franchise player is gifted but injury-plagued center Mike Modano of Livonia, Mich., and a vital cog of their defense is Detroit native Derian Hatcher, whose brother, Kevin, plays for Pittsburgh.

“If Mike Modano ever got into a system where he was playing more offensively, he could definitely win the scoring title,” said Weight, who had career highs of 104 points with Edmonton in 1995-96 and 26 goals last season but was idled because of a knee injury in October. “An American is going to eventually win it. It’s going to be difficult, but if you look at the top five or six American players, you have to say it’s attainable.”

The current American scoring leaders share attributes that represent an evolution from the previous generation.

“Over the last five years we’ve been known as more North American, for power forwards who have strength and skill. Keith, Bill Guerin and John LeClair can bang and put the puck in the net. We haven’t always been known for that. We had Pat LaFontaine and Joe Mullen, who were scorers,” Weight said. “Nowadays, we have some of each. It’s a good mix. That’s why we’ve had a lot of success, like in the 1996 World Cup. We’ve got a mix of finesse and strength, guys who go to the net and take punishment and score goals.

“We have size, with the Hatchers, and defensive skills with Chris Chelios. These days, chemistry is everything and we have it. I’ve read where Canadians have complained they’re one-dimensional, and you can’t say that about our game. Right now, our game has a lot of everything.”

Said Wilson: “It seems if you’re looking for skills, you’re looking for a European player. If you’re looking for a guy who can score or grind, you look for a Canadian or American. It’s the way we buy cars. If you’re looking for something sporty and flashy, you buy a German car. If you want a truck, you buy a Chevrolet Suburban. We do the same thing at the draft. We assume a European can stick-handle and make plays and we assume a U.S. player is going to be like a utility vehicle, not glamorous but getting the job done.”

The success of future American generations hinges on improving the coaching at youth and college levels and attracting more players. Registration in USA Hockey programs zoomed from 205,441 male and female players, coaches and officials in 1990-91 to 464,713 in 1997-98, but the number of men’s NCAA Division I college programs has stayed at about 51. Five of the top 10 rookie scorers played at U.S. colleges and two are American: goal-scoring leader Mark Parrish of St. Cloud State in his native Minnesota and Drury’s brother, Chris, a center with Colorado.

“I would just die and go to heaven if somebody like Stanford announced it was going to start a varsity hockey program,” Ogrean said. “How can we get to the point where we’re excited about a matchup between Syracuse and Florida State instead of Ferris State against Northern Michigan? It’s harder to do in hockey because of the cost of facilities.”

Wilson agreed new talent can lift Americans to new hockey heights. “There’s so many athletes from the southern U.S. who play other sports and don’t give a thought to hockey. Until it’s a choice for everybody, you can’t say the talent pool has been emptied,” he said. “That’s why it’s important for us to expand and get the kind of exposure the league is getting.”

If the current class of American stars doesn’t produce the first U.S.-born scoring champion, perhaps Parrish will do it. “Maybe it will be my brother. That would be nice,” Ted Drury said of younger sibling Chris, 22.

The first champion may not even be in the NHL. He could be Detroit native David Legwand, drafted second overall by Nashville last June, or highly touted Alaskan-born center Scott Gomez, New Jersey’s second pick in June. Both are playing major junior hockey in American cities.

“What means more than an American winning this year,” Ogrean said, “is to look at the list 10, 15, 20 years from now and not see one or two American names but see six or seven.”

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NHL Nationalities

Percentage of Canadian, non-North American and U.S. players in the NHL

1967-68

U.S.: 2.0&

non-North American: 1.3%

Canadian: 96.7&

*

1979-80

U.S.: 11.6&

non-North American: 6.3%

Canadian: 82.1%

*

1998-99

U.S.: 15.0&

non-North American: 23.9&

Canadian: 61.1%

Source:

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Red Light and Blue

John LeClair and Tony Amonte are trying to become the first U.S.-born NHL scoring champions. This season’s leaders:

Name: Eric Lindros

Team: Phil.

Country: Canada

Points: 40

Name: Paul Kariya

Team: Ducks

Country: Canada

Points: 39

Name: John LeClair

Team: Phil.

Country: USA

Points: 37

Name: Jaromir Jagr

Team: Pitt.

Country: Czech Rep.

Points: 37

Name: Peter Forsberg

Team: Col.

Country: Sweden

Points: 34

Name: Wayne Gretzky

Team: NYR

Country: Canada

Points: 33

Name: Steve Yzeman

Team: Det.

Country: Canada

Points: 33

Name: Joe Sakic

Team: Col.

Country: Canada

Points: 32

Name: Tony Amonte

Team: Chi.

Country: USA

Points: 31

Name: Dimitri Khristich

Team: Bos.

Country: Ukraine

Points: 31