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NHL battle of the nations 2026–27

Russia leads the 2026–27 nations league ahead of Canada, when every country is weighed by how good its players are rather than how many there are. Sweden sits fifth. Counted in raw points Canada wins, as always.

The nations league ranks the 11 countries with at least five NHL skaters in five disciplines and adds up the placings.

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2026–27Active season20/84 games
11 countries with at least five skaters. First in a category gets 11 points, second 10 and so on down to 1 for last. The table is the total.
1
RussiaRussia59 players
MINKirill Kaprizov37 ptsCARPyotr Kochetkov12 W
Rate2ndTop trio3rdBlue line3rdGoalies2ndPer million10th
40pts
2
CanadaCanada353 players
EDMConnor McDavid50 ptsCOLMackenzie Blackwood11 W
Rate8thTop trio1stBlue line5thGoalies5thPer million1st
40pts
3
USAUSA242 players
MINQuinn Hughes30 ptsDALJake Oettinger10 W
Rate6thTop trio2ndBlue line1stGoalies3rdPer million9th
39pts
4
GermanyGermany8 players
EDMLeon Draisaitl38 ptsSEAPhilipp Grubauer5 W
Rate1stTop trio4thBlue line2ndGoalies4thPer million11th
38pts
5
SwedenSweden83 players
ANALeo Carlsson27 ptsMINJesper Wallstedt14 W
Rate5thTop trio6thBlue line11thGoalies1stPer million2nd
35pts
6
FinlandFinland42 players
CARSebastian Aho29 ptsNSHJuuse Saros7 W
Rate3rdTop trio5thBlue line9thGoalies8thPer million3rd
32pts
7
CzechiaCzechia19 players
BOSDavid Pastrnak26 ptsUTAKarel Vejmelka6 W
Rate4thTop trio7thBlue line7thGoalies9thPer million5th
28pts
8
SwitzerlandSwitzerland11 players
NSHRoman Josi23 ptsFLAAkira Schmid6 W
Rate7thTop trio8thBlue line4thGoalies6thPer million7th
28pts
9
SlovakiaSlovakia8 players
MTLJuraj Slafkovský13 pts
Rate10thTop trio9thBlue line6thGoalies10thPer million6th
19pts
10
LatviaLatvia6 players
FLASandis Vilmanis8 ptsPITArturs Silovs5 W
Rate11thTop trio11thBlue line10thGoalies7thPer million4th
17pts
11
BelarusBelarus7 players
CGYYegor Sharangovich10 pts
Rate9thTop trio10thBlue line8thGoalies10thPer million8th
15pts
How the nations league is counted

Every country with at least five NHL skaters is ranked in five disciplines. First in a discipline is worth 11 points, second 10 and so on down to 1 for last. The league table is the sum. A shared placing gives the same points.

  • Points per gameAll the nation's skaters' points divided by their games, evened out toward the NHL average.
  • Best trioThe three best scorers' points combined.
  • Defencemen's points per gameThe defencemen's points per game, evened out the same way.
  • Goalies' save percentageThe goalies' save percentage, evened out toward the NHL average. A country without a goalie comes last.
  • NHL players per million inhabitantsHow many NHL players the country has per million inhabitants.

The rate disciplines are evened out so that a small country cannot win on one hot player: we add 400 games (300 for defencemen, 1,500 shots for goalies) at the NHL's own average before dividing. This season the NHL average is 0.47 points per game and player. A country with many games is barely affected; one with few is pulled toward the middle.

A player counts for his birth country, except Swedes, who count as Swedish wherever they were born. Players born in Sweden who represent another country count for no country. Regular season only, and only players with at least one game.

851 players and 5 479 points in the NHL this season.

Russia accounts for 7.6% of all NHL points with 6.9% of the players. Sweden has 9.8% of the players and 10.5% of the points, and sits third in raw points.

Total points

CanadaCanada
2 169
USAUSA
1 596
SwedenSweden
577
RussiaRussia
418
FinlandFinland
264
CzechiaCzechia
122
GermanyGermany
93
SwitzerlandSwitzerland
73
SlovakiaSlovakia
44
BelarusBelarus
33
LatviaLatvia
18

Goalie wins

CanadaCanada
104
USAUSA
76
RussiaRussia
46
SwedenSweden
37
FinlandFinland
22
CzechiaCzechia
17
GermanyGermany
9
SwitzerlandSwitzerland
6
LatviaLatvia
5
SlovakiaSlovakia
0
BelarusBelarus
0
The nations league's five categories plus raw points and player count. The higher value takes the round.
Sweden
Sweden
5th in the league
5–2
Czechia
Czechia
7th in the league

Sweden wins 5–2 against Czechia.

0.48Points per game0.49
71Best trio66
0.32Defencemen's points per game0.34
.898Goalies' save percentage.880
7.8NHL players per million inhabitants1.7
577Total points122
83Players in the NHL19
Sweden against Czechia season by season
The winner's flag above Sweden's placing. Sweden has won 5 of the last 30 seasons.
RussiaRussia7 titlesCzechiaCzechia7 titlesSwedenSweden5 titlesCanadaCanada4 titlesFinlandFinland3 titlesSlovakiaSlovakia2 titlesUSAUSA1 titleGermanyGermany1 title
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