All sports fans love watching their hometown heroes make it big in the pros, and Canadians across the nation have plenty of homegrown talent to cheer on in all four of North America’s traditional major professional sports leagues. Sure, most of those professional athletes compete in the NHL, but Canadians are well represented in the NFL, NBA, and MLB too.
But which provinces in Canada have produced the most professional athletes?
BetCanada.com, as part of our Canada sports betting coverage, used birthplace data from Pro-Football-Reference.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, and Hockey-Reference.com to tally up the number of pro athletes who hail from each province. The results below represent the top five provinces with the most athletes who have played at least one game in the NHL, NFL, NBA, or MLB during the most recent season.
Rank | Province | Total |
1 | Ontario | 213 |
2 | Quebec | 68 |
3 | Alberta | 58 |
4 | British Columbia | 47 |
5 | Manitoba | 25 |
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No surprise, Ontario is the Canadian province with the most active professional athletes. There are a staggering 171 NHL pros representing Canada’s most populous province (which has about 16 million out of the nation’s 40 million people, according to the World Population Review website). Ontario has also produced more non-NHL pros than any other province, including the NBA’s current points-per-game leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown, who became a darling among NFL Fantasy Football players after totaling 1,350 scrimmage yards and 11 total touchdowns in 2024.
Quebec has produced the second-most professional athletes in Canada, with 68 active pros. Of the 11 non-NHLers, the standouts include rising NBA star Bennedict Mathurin of the Indianapolis Pacers, and of course the Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was born in Montreal during his father’s stint with the Expos in the late 1990s.
Next up is Alberta, home of an NHL team that tied for first in our recent research on the most popular team, in the nation – see our Top 5 favourite professional sports teams in Canada to find out which team, and who they were tied with.
In addition to NHL stars like Colorado Avalanche defensemen Cale Makar, Wild Rose Country also boasts a handful of MLB players, most notably Michael Soroka. The Calgary-born pitcher made the National League All-Star team in 2019 and is set to take the mound for the Washington Nationals in 2025. Meanwhile, Carolina Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard also hails from Alberta. The shifty running back secured a four-year, $33.2 million dollar contract extension midway through 2024.
British Columbia’s pro athletes are highlighted by top-tier hockey players, including a mix of veterans such as Dallas Stars long-time captain Jamie Benn and 2023-24 rookie of the year Connor Bedard. Meanwhile, NFL safety and B.C. native Jevon Holland will be moving a little bit closer to home after signing a 3-year, $45.3 million dollar deal with the New York Giants this offseason. Holland spent his first four seasons with the Miami Dolphins.
Manitoba rounds out the top five, with 24 of its 25 pros competing in the NHL, including notable hockey players Max Domi (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights). The province is also home to the Winnipeg Jets, a contender this season for their first Presidents Trophy; see our Stanley Cup odds to discover where they stack up for wagering.
Rank | Province | Total |
1 | Ontario | 171 |
2 | Quebec | 57 |
3 | Alberta | 51 |
4 | British Columbia | 40 |
5 | Manitoba | 24 |
6 | Saskatchewan | 22 |
7 | Nova Scotia | 13 |
T8 | New Brunswick | 3 |
T8 | Newfoundland and Labrador | 3 |
T8 | Prince Edward Island | 3 |
11 | Yukon** | 1 |
**Yukon is not a province but a territory
Since hockey players comprise so many of the nation’s pro athletes, BetCanada.com also decided to look at where all 10 provinces rank in terms of NHL talent alone. The top five remain the same on that list as the number of pro athletes overall.
Saskatchewan has produced the sixth-most active NHL players among the provinces, with goaltender Darcy Kuemper among its brightest stars. The Los Angeles Kings netminder is currently second in the NHL in goals against average (2.13) and third in save percentage (.918) as of March 24.
Meanwhile in seventh, Nova Scotia boasts 13 active NHLers, including the Florida Panthers’ recent trade deadline acquisition Brad Marchand, current NHL points leader Nathan McKinnon and three-time Stanley Cup champion Sidney Crosby.
Finally, while not technically a province, Yukon sneaks onto the list with one active NHL player: Whitehorse’s Dylan Cozens. The 24-year-old centre has three goals and four assists since being traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Ottawa Senators on March 7.
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Author
Jeff Parker is an entertainment writer for BetCanada.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a lifelong movie buff, with a Masters Degree in Popular Culture, and he also writes about sports. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
