The National Hockey League, NHL, is the most unique of the four major sports leagues. Why you ask? Well because the league is largely made up of foreign players. While the NHL is considered the premiere hockey league in the world, these players have a fall back league to go to. The KHL, Kontinental Hockey League, is the Russian hockey league and you'd be surprised by how many ex-NHL greats are playing in the league currently. Dominik Hasek, the excellent goaltender known for his time as a Detroit Red Wing, is the latest ex-NHL star to sign on to play for the KHL.
The problem with the NHL having a lot of foreign players is that after they retire from the NHL they could always go back to their home country and play there. Well the European and Russian players could; I'm thinking the Canadians would just stick to the NHL until they retire for good because Canada and the US share a continent and also the NHL as a strong base in Canada. But back to the players across the Atlantic. If all these great players, Hasek, Jaromir Jagr, and Sergei Zubov to name a few, are "retiring" from the NHL and then going to play for the KHL or their home country's league that gives younger players in those countries less of an incentive to leave for North America and the NHL. Why change continents when local hockey greats are playing on the one you're currently on? Now a quick response would be because of the money, but if you've looked at NHL salaries they don't even come close to the three other leagues. In fact, I recently read that one of the stars on the Washington Capitals, Nicklas Backstrom, signed a 10 year, $67 million dollar deal. Compare this to the recent rumors that the KHL are willing to pay star winger Illya Kovalchuk 14 million per year and money is out of the equation for young foreign stars traveling to the US to play for the NHL.
In order for the NHL to remain the top hockey league in the world, it's going to have to start adding more players from the country that has the most teams, the USA. There are plenty of Canadian players in the NHL that will continue to play in the NHL, but the NHL needs more Americans. Yes, the US Olympic Team came a goal short of winning the gold medal, but if you remember correctly, the US was written off as too young and irrelevant in the Olympics this past February and surprised many with their gold medal run. European players will eventually start going to the KHL as that league continues to grow, especially if the rumors are true about paying players 14 mil per year. The NHL needs to step up and call young Americans to the sport of hockey. It needs to say that this is a predominantly American league and, while the foreign representation is great, the NHL needs more Americans. In the case of the NHL, they don't need to expand. They need to contract and reach out to its own country, the United States of America. If they don't, well then the NHL will slowly become of no use.
References
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=5259688
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=529401