Croats and Serbs in the NHL
Of all the Slavic nations, ex-Yugoslav countries may rank last when it comes to national achievement in hockey and/or producing native-born players who go on to have success in the NHL.
Here are some Canadian or American NHL stars who were born to Croatian or more broadly Yugoslav parents, including Serbian, Slovenian and Macedonian.
Unquestionably the biggest star of them all is Joe Sakic. Both of his parents were born in Croatia.
In second place, Steven Stamkos. Macedonian father. Proud of his heritage. Great scorer. Note: Macedonian as in Slavic, not the historical Greeks. Macedonia was one of the 6 republics in Yugoslavia. Their language is closer to Bulgarian than Serbo-Croatian.
In third place, the Mahovlich brothers. Frank has over 1100 pts in the NHL. (croatian)
In 4th place, Ed Jovanovski. 1st pick in 1994 NHL draft. Macedonian parents.
Other players of note.
Matt Stajan. Slovenian-Canadian.
Jose Theodore. Macedonian father.
Ivan Boldirev, Serbian-born Canada, 850 pts in 1000 nhl games.
Anze Kopitar, Slovenian, still active, nearly 500 pts in 500 nhl games.
Peter Zezel, Serbian father, over 600 pts in the NHL.
Milan Lucic, Serbian-born parents, 240 pts in 400 nhl games.
Mike Karakas (croatian) and Frank Brimsek (slovenian), Minnesota-born NHL goalies, American pioneers of the game.
First linesman inducted into the hall of fame, Matt Pavelich.
Mark Pavelich, part of the Miracle on Ice US team that went on to beat the Russians for the gold medal in 1980.
Others
John Kordic and brother Dan. NHL enforcer. drug problems, death in a police standoff.
Raffi Torres' Peruvian-born mother has partial Serbian ancestry.
Willie Mitchell's mother is Croatian
There is also Branko Radivojevic (Slovak-born, Serbian father), Tony Hrkac, Cory Sarich and many others including Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Tie Domi's parents are from Bitola, Macedonia. He is an Albanian tho. Trivia: Mother Theresa was also a Macedonian-born Albanian.