For the first time in its history the Canadian without Quebec

The severity of Philip Donald’s injury is unknown. As far as we know, he suffered an upper body injury and returned to Montreal. His absence from Toronto tonight clearly leaves a hole in the Hobbs center line. But that’s not all.

Also read: Lack of Donald: “Our Centers Must Grow” – Nick Suzuki

Also read: Danault is also in the hospital

Donald’s package means that, for the first time in more than a century of history, the Canadian has not had a Quebec player in his training.

Except, Alex Belgile should be called in to replace Donald. This is surprising. Reinforcement comes from Michael Frolick, who recently took over in the absence of Thomas Tatar.

Renowned statistician Stefan Laberz hoisted the flag on his Twitter account yesterday morning. According to research conducted by the Le Journal, this is indeed the first.

From Didier Pitrey to Donald, there has always been at least one Kubecker in training, including George Vazina, Silvio Manta, Walter Buswell, Jean Belive, Henry Richard, Vincent Damfaus or David Desernes.

And, by Cubacois, we identify hockey players born or raised in La Belle Province. We’re not talking about Francophones for sure.

Doug Harvey? It counts. Torrey Mitchell? It counts. Benoit Poult? It does not count. ల్ Rail Joliat, no. You will see the formula. It is not a question of language.

A dozen

With the path opened by Emile Bouchard and Maurice Richard, it was a manna for hobs in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It must be said that the Montreal team had control over the whole of Quebec territory. In addition, in the 1968 and 1969 drafts, she featured two beautiful talents trained in Quebec.

Although these powers were taken away from him, it was not until the late 1970s that Hobbs was able to ride the wave with the presence of Jacques Lemire, Yvonne Kornoir, Guy Lapoint and Serge Saward.

After becoming general manager, the boss had a very clear approach to the matter during his 12 years in office: giving the little guys a chance. What the Nordics were doing before they joined the NHL.

The weakest delegation of Quebeckers under his orders? Eight, in the 1986-1987 season. With the exception of this campaign, Saward never saw less than 10 Quebec players in his locker room.

In 1990-1991, there were 19 of them. Apparently, only a lot of people are traveling, but there are still over half a dozen in general training.

The end of the Bob Gaini regime and the beginning of Pierre Gautier marked a clear cut. Out of eight Quebecs in 2008-2009, the Canadian has risen to three in four seasons.

A reflection of times

It’s weird that CH is not keeping any player who grew up in the shadow of the Bell Center, some say. Effectively. But this is a bit of a reflection of today.

This season, 53 Quebec players (excluding goaltenders Mark-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Bernier) have played at least one NHL game.

33 of them wore their uniforms for at least half of their team games. This is on average correct for the previous 10 seasons. Average 32.6.