Top 5 NHL players of Indian origin ft. Arshdeep Bains

Arshdeep Bains of the Vancouver Canucks made his NHL debut earlier this season growing the small list of players of Indian decent.

There are only six players of Indian origin in NHL history, with Bains being the most recent. The first was Robin Bawa who made his debut in 1987.

---

Top five NHL players of Indian origin

#5 Arshdeep Bains

Arshdeep Bains was undrafted and signed a deal with the Vancouver Canucks after his WHL career came to an end.

Bains was a full-time AHL player in 2022-23. During the 2023-24 NHL season, he played eight games for the Canucks. He didn't record a goal or an assist but racked up six penalty minutes.

#4 Robin Bawa

Robin Bawa was the first NHL player of Indian descent to make the NHL. He made his debut with the Washington Capitals during the 1989-90 season.

Bawa ended up playing for the Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. He ended his NHL career with 61 games played, one goal and seven assists for eight points.

#3 Andreas Martinsen

Andreas Martinsen played in the NHL from 2015-19, and his background is Indian, Norweigan and Ugandan.

Martinsen went undrafted in 2007 and was playing in Europe before he signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche. He bounced between the Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks.

Martinsen ended up playing 152 games in the NHL, recording nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points.

#2 Kevin Bahl

Kevin Bahl was a first-round pick of New Jersey

Kevin Bahl is of Indian-Canadian descent and made his NHL debut during the 2020-21 NHL season.

Bahl was drafted 55th overall in 2018 by Arizona but was traded to New Jersey in the Taylor Hall deal. In the NHL, Bahl has played 148 games, with four goals and 21 assists. He skated all 82 games for the Devils last season.

#1 Manny Malhotra

Manny Malhotra has had the most success out of the six players of Indian descent to play in the NHL.

Malhotra skated in 991 NHL games from 1998 until 2015, recording 116 goals and 179 assists for 295 points.

He played for the New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.