Why US-born NHL stars are departing Canadian clubs as the new season opens
Several high-profile US-born NHL players have sought moves away from Canadian teams as the new NHL season gets underway on Tuesday night, with moves and trade requests prompting debate about money, taxes, geopolitics and respect.
Concerns about US clubs drawing talent north-south are not new: in September 1925 Frederick Wilson of the Globe asked “Will it be a matter of money?” and reassured readers that “It will be some years before the [US] will be in a position to furnish players.” For roughly a century the argument that money would sway players recurred, and the United States has since closed the gap in on-ice talent, prompting fresh questions about where American players prefer to play.
Quinn Hughes left the Vancouver Canucks for the Minnesota Wild last December after indicating he would not re-sign, a move Jim Rutherford, Vancouver’s president of hockey operations, said was driven by a desire to return to the US rather than team performance. “Some people think Quinn left here because the team wasn’t any good. He was leaving anyway,” Rutherford said, adding “He wanted to go back to the US, and he went,” and warning that Hughes “wouldn’t be the last.” Rutherford also pointed to Matthew Tkachuk’s departure from Calgary in 2022 as precedent.
Brady Tkachuk, who was captain of the Ottawa Senators, asked to be traded at the end of the 2025-26 season and has since joined his brother in Florida. Senators owner Michael Andlauer described family influence on the move: “Blood is thicker than water, and let’s just say that his father and his brother got in his kitchen,” and added, “Ultimately, the decision was made to go and play with his brother. It’s a decision that was out of our control to a certain degree.”
Detroit’s former captain Dylan Larkin has also sought a move, and reported potential destinations exclude Canadian teams, including Montreal, which the article notes “have plenty of cap space and an exciting young roster built on fresh contract extensions.” TSN reported that Larkin “won’t consider any Canadian team at all.”
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck revealed he requested a trade “several months” earlier after signing a seven-year contract worth $59.5m in 2023, when he said he was “ready to be a Jet for life and bring a Cup to this city.” The Jets’ struggles and international attention following the Olympics — where Hellebuyck made 41 saves in the United States’ gold-medal victory — factored into the situation; the article reports that Donald Trump awarded Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom and that the White House visit “soured some fans and, according to Hellebuyck, led to threats and online abuse aimed at his family.” Hellebuyck is reportedly open to a competitive US team, talks with Buffalo stalled over Winnipeg’s asking price, and it has been suggested he would accept moves to Edmonton or Montreal; he has been suspended for failing to report to training camp and “will sit in limbo – presumably somewhere between Manitoba and his home state of Michigan – until it’s resolved.”
The players involved have not publicly attacked Canada, and the article notes legitimate reasons for moves such as family ties and better tax rates. The trend is not universal — Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is remaining with his team, described as “likely influenced by the team’s management overhaul and offseason additions” — but the debate has rekindled deep-seated anxieties in Canada about attracting top talent.
Since the salary cap’s introduction in 2005 Canadian teams have been able to adjust finances to compete, the article states, yet the author argues that while money issues are more manageable than in the past, desire to play in Canada cannot be manufactured. The worry the piece leaves with readers is simple: many players still want to play in Canada, “but the worry now is that the best American ones don’t.”