Where are the Newfoundlanders in the NHL? Former players discuss hockey's future

The 2017 World Junior Hockey Championships are in full swing, but with the Canadian team without a Newfoundlander or Labradorian for nearly a decade, some are questioning the strength of the game in the province.

There hasn't been a player from N.L. on the Canadian World Junior team since Luke Adam in 2010, and although there were once six Newfoundlanders in the National Hockey League,Adam Pardy of the Nashville Predators is the only one remaining.

In a hockey panel hosted by Here & Now's Debbie Cooper, three Newfoundlanders discussed the future of the game.

"Ultimately, we don't have players who are good enough. I hate to be brutally honest, but that's what it comes down to," said Robin Short, sports editor with The Telegram.

Part of that is a result of a numbers game, with fewer players in the province compared to larger centres, but Short also said young players aren't getting a break from hockey or having an opportunity to hone their skills in another sport over the summer.

"We don't seem to be developing the multi-sport athlete anymore, it seems like they're playing hockey 11 months of the year, and it's wrong," said Short

Hockey burnout a factor

Former Montreal Canadiens player Terry Ryan agreed and said players talented in more than one sport are now being forced to choose only one sport to devote their time and energy to.

Ryan said he played soccer and baseball in the summer in addition to hockey, and that he sees young kids who are burned out from focusing on hockey year-round.

"Each time, I was ready to play in September, I was ready for hockey to start, I was hungry," he said.

Randy Pearcey, former senior hockey player and coach and operator of Xtreme Hockey School, said the intensity of training takes the fun out of the game for young players

"Are kids having fun today? I question it," Pearcey said.

"Most of the kids are running from rink to rink to rink, they're on the ice seven days a week and they're not playing the pond hockey where they can be creative we're making robots of hockey players."

Still hope for future

Despite this, there's still hope that more Newfoundlanders will make it to the World Junior tournament and the NHL.

"If we weren't having any kids going and playing major junior, or junior A, or NCAA, if all of a sudden all that started really tailing off, [then] there might be a problem," said Ryan.

"We'll always produce an exceptional talent and we'll continue to do so in hockey, but I'm not so sure if we'll ever see a time in the foreseeable future where we're going to see seven born and raised Newfoundlanders in the National Hockey League," said Short.