When the Winnipeg Jets play host to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, the meeting will be more than a showcase of the Central Division leader against the league’s top-scoring line. It will be a glimpse of a decade-long transformation of Finnish hockey.

Patrik Laine of Winnipeg, 20, and Mikko Rantanen of Colorado, 22, have spent much of their young N.H.L. careers among the league leaders in scoring, gaining a spotlight for a golden generation from Finland, one of the smallest, and most successful, hockey-playing nations.

“That age group in Finland, there must be something in the water or they’re feeding them the right things up there,” said the Winnipeg captain, Blake Wheeler.

Seven players from Finland, a country of 5.5 million, have been top 10 draft picks since 2013, and nearly all of them are playing significant roles on their N.H.L. teams.