Which State Currently Produces the Most NHL players? Let's Look at the Top Five

I have been seeing many different forums and blogs asking, claiming, and arguing over which state produces the most players.

So I went through all of the "Current" rosters of the NHL and marked off each teams' USA players and where they grew up.

This slide show will answer the question of which state provides the most home-grown talent.

Number Five - Wisconsin (9)

Wisconsin currently is being represented by nine players in the NHL.

Among the nine Wisconsin players are Joe Pavelski of San Jose, Adam Burish of Chicago, and Phil Kessel of Toronto.

Number Four - Massachusetts (15)

Massachusetts boasts 15 NHL players, which include Stanley Cup champs Bill Guerin of Pittsburgh and Hal Gill of Montreal.

Also, recently retired (but still 2009-2010 rostered) Keith Tkachuk of St. Louis.

Number Three - New York (26)

Number Three and Number Four are very close, having a difference of one player.

27-26.

New York has 26 home-grown NHL players, which include Olympians Dustin Brown of Los Angeles, Patrick Kane of Chicago, and Ryan Callahan of New York.

Number Two - Michigan (27)

Michigan barely beat out NY by one for a total of 27 NHL players.

To name a few of their talented players:

Ryan Kesler of Vancouver, Jack Johnson of Lose Angeles, Brian Rafalski of Detroit, and Tim Thomas of Boston.

Oh and a guy by the name of Ryan Miller of Buffalo.

Also, I'd like to add a hero of mine, the all-time leading American goal/points scorer Mike Modano of Dallas.

Now, for Number One.

Drum roll Please......................

Number One - Minnesota (36)

Of course the "State of Hockey", my home state, would be number one, but now I have the research to back it up.

Up in this very cold state, we are born, live, and die with skates tied to our feet.

We can be first in the league or last. The team of 18,000 will always be at the Arena cheering on the Wild.

We, as a whole state, live the sport, which helps produce nine more NHL players than our number two.

So, with 36 NHL players, Minnesota is number one.

To list a few of the players from MN:

David Backes of St. Louis, Jamie Langenbrunner of New Jersey, Zach Parise of New Jersey, Erik Johnson of St. Louis, Keith Ballard of Florida, Paul Martin of New Jersey, and also rising star from my hometown, Alex Goligoski of Pittsburgh.

Honorable Mentions

I am just going to list off the states that didn't make the top five but still had at least one NHL player on a team's roster.

Craig Anderson, by the way, is from Park Ridge, Illinois.

Alabama-1
Alaska- 6
California- 3
Colorado- 2
Connecticut- 7
Delaware- 1
Illinois- 7
Indiana- 2
Iowa- 1
Maine- 2
Maryland- 2
Missouri- 3
Nebraska- 1
New Hampshire- 1
New Jersey- 4
North Carolina- 2
North Dakota- 4
Ohio- 2
Pennsylvania- 6
Rhode Island- 1
Texas- 1
Washington- 3