NHL Rank the 4 best hockey cities in Canada

[Kerberos]

Vancouver sports fans are incredibly fairweather. Wouldn't have known that they even had a team until last season over the past decade or so.

Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto and Winnipeg are the easy answers here.

 

[Figgy44]

I don't have stats on this, but I will say this.

I could have Ottawa dead last for senators support even per capita...

But I would have Ottawa near the top because of these factors.

Ottawa has the biggest population of leaf fans outside of the GTA. Ottawa has the biggest population of habs fans outside of Montreal.

We also have a bunch of fans who didn't want to cheer for either and didn't have a team here yet, so go for other Original 6 teams. Lots of hawks fans here. Lots of Bruins fans here. Lots of wings fans here. Ottawa breaks records for attendance for international things or junior events or whatever. So the fans are there for hockey even if not for the senators.

So I would put Ottawa near the top in terms of your average citizens hockey fandom or knowledge.

But I would put them last or second last in sens fans per capita and total sens fans.

So it depends if you value it as "Ottawa the city" or "the Ottawa Senators".

And that's all I have to say.

So the Sens fans are the most loyal migrant fans of the Canadian cities? I could see that. Many other fans of the other hockey teams consider changing allegiances once they move.

Calgary on the other hand is a strange variant of a mushy middle. I do think there's lots of hockey fans in the city, but few fanatics. We also seemingly have a lot more migration from many young working people from other major cities in comparison to the other cities (ie: significant migration from Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto) so when those teams are in town, their jerseys suddenly pop up in huge numbers.

Stuff with the Calgary Flames logo also seems to pop up internationally a bit, but I don't know if that's just me paying attention as a Flames fan, or whether the color scheme combo and logo are just more easily identifiable in Europe and Asia than the color scheme and logo of the other NHL teams.

 

[Ghetty Green]

Montreal Edmonton Winnipeg are the locks.

 

[Three On Zero]

Fanbase size it’s:
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Edmonton

Ranking of NHL teams popularity

Table showing popularity of NHL teams based on social media data, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins are the most popular teams

www.stadium-maps.com

So the Sens fans are the most loyal migrant fans of the Canadian cities? I could see that. Many other fans of the other hockey teams consider changing allegiances once they move.

Calgary on the other hand is a strange variant of a mushy middle. I do think there's lots of hockey fans in the city, but few fanatics. We also seemingly have a lot more migration from many young working people from other major cities in comparison to the other cities (ie: significant migration from Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto) so when those teams are in town, their jerseys suddenly pop up in huge numbers.

Stuff with the Calgary Flames logo also seems to pop up internationally a bit, but I don't know if that's just me paying attention as a Flames fan, or whether the color scheme combo and logo are just more easily identifiable in Europe and Asia than the color scheme and logo of the other NHL teams.

The Habs claim the top spot with 46% of fans listing the Montreal team as their favourite, while 39% are willing to say that about the Leafs, and 25% consider the Vancouver Canucks to be their fave.

When it comes to out-of-market appeal, 38% of Canadians living outside of Alberta list the Calgary Flames as their favourite team, and 37% of those fans live in BC, 34% are in Ontario and 16% live in Saskatchewan.

 

[Three On Zero]

Montreal Edmonton Winnipeg are the locks.

Winnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.

Good fanbase but it’s closer to Ottawa than Montreal/Toronto

 

[McFlash97]

Edmonton and Montreal should get the top 2 nod easy. Toronto 3rd followed by Flames fans. Feel bad for Calgary and thier on ice product.

Fans outside thier viewing region.

1.Toronto
2.Montreal
3.Edmonton

quite easily.

 

[Skolman]

Winnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.

Good fanbase but it’s closer to Ottawa than Montreal/Toronto

There's also 850k people in Winnipeg...

Heck, the entire population of Manitoba is smaller than Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton.

 

[Three On Zero]

There's also 850k people in Winnipeg...

Heck, the entire population of Manitoba is smaller than Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton.

Riveting information

 

[I am not exposed]

Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto are an easy top 3.

4th is a bit harder.

Can rule out Ottawa straight away.

I live in Vancouver but the fandom is pretty lacklustre compared to pre-2011.
Winnipeg is passionate but a lot smaller population.
Calgary is below Edmonton. A bigger population than Winnipeg, but smaller than Vancouver.

I will give it to Winnipeg, but an argument could be made for all three of Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver in the number 4 spot.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

I am not from Canada but have visited each of these cities and followed hockey closely for a long time

To me it feels obvious but maybe Im wrong

1 Montreal
2 Toronto
3 Edmonton
4 Vancouver

 

[Ghetty Green]

Winnipeg has the lowest attendance in the league and is hemorrhaging season ticket holders.

Good fanbase but it’s closer to Ottawa than Montreal/Toronto

Oh, ok

 

[yzerman]

Interesting that Edmonton just now is ahead of Toronto.

 

[Fourier]

If it's per capita, it should be Edmonton and I've lived in Montreal

No question. Hockey dominates not only all sports talk in Edmonton year round but in fact most of the media period.

 

[Fourier]

Interesting that Edmonton just now is ahead of Toronto.

If you visit Toronto in July and listened to sports radio or watch TV you would never even know hockey was a thing. That is not the case in Edmonton. Edmonton is now and has been for decades a very passionate sports town but no matter what time of year hockey dominates the conversation. This was still true through the recent decade of darkness. The only time in my life when that was not true was during the absolute glory days of the Edmonton Eskimos. During those years the EE might have been able to top the Oilers in July and August. But even then hockey still had a very prominent place in sports coverage during the summer.

 

[CanadienShark]

Easy choices.

1. Montreal
2. Toronto
3. Edmonton
4. Vancouver

I could switch 3 and 4 if anyone wanted to argue.

 

[Three On Zero]

Interesting that Edmonton just now is ahead of Toronto.

Teams in an upswing, large bandwagon community for a small market team

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Montreal
Edmonton
Toronto
Winnipeg/Vancouver

no one punches above their weight like Edmonton...I mean, look how many people complain about the Oiler fans on HF

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Teams in an upswing, large bandwagon community for a small market team

literally sold out every game during the Decade of Darkness

"bandwagon"

never change

 

[Three On Zero]

literally sold out every game during the Decade of Darkness

"bandwagon"

never change

Riveting information

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Riveting information

Relevant information

 

[biturbo19]

Toronto/Montreal are clearly at the top. Edmonton rolls in a pretty comfortable third place i think...there's nothing else going on there, it's got huge amounts of history established there, and people will hang on their every move even through the darkest of eras that would've absolutely killed almost any other franchise.


Fourth is really where it gets interesting.


Vancouver can be crazy, but it's also a massively "fairweather" sports town in general. Hockey is only really popular when the team is good. The media are also particularly nasty and negative about everything.

Calgary...kind of comes and goes as well. There's a weird relationship between the team and the city. Never really gets quite as over the top fanatical either, but also doesn't ride some of the indifferent lulls of others either.

Winnipeg is hard to assess in that it's a hockey mad market and always will be, but its media and overall presence is so much smaller. It's a big fish in a small pond.

Ottawa is tricky because as it stands, it's a terrible hockey market. But it's not truly fair, in that they've had to endure decades of horrendous incompetent ownership. It's also not even really an "Ottawa" team...it's a way the heck out in the middle of nowhere Kanata team. With a downtown arena and some actual progress in being a more serious franchise post-Melnyk...it has a lot of potential as a market. It's just unrealized potential.




So i probably flip a coin between Vancouver and Calgary. Land on Calgary, but either one seems reasonable to me.


The other thing not discussed here, is that Quebec City has a legitimate chance at being #4 if they'd give them a team back. Lots of TV and Business Money considerations that have that on indefinite hold...but as an actual "hockey market", it has the potential to be like...Winnipeg on steroids.

 

[John Mandalorian]

1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Vancouver
4. Edmonton/Calgary

Putting Toronto #1 even though Montreal has more success and a lot of passion. Toronto’s lack of success is a big reason for making it #1. And yes their fans can be annoying in that they sometimes flex like the Yankees even though they’re the Indians/Gladiators. Still though, it takes a lot of passion to support a team when you’re getting the short end of team success. And though they have overdone flexes because they’re the biggest market, many also have battered fan syndrome. If/when Toronto finally does it, I’d be very happy for them (unless it’s against my team ).

Almost went with Montreal. They could just as easily be #1 here.

Vancouver at 3. Not sure if destroying your city after a SC loss is passion or petulance. The green men are fun and it speaks to the culture of fans supporting the team.

Edmonton and Calgary seem similar, it’s just that Edmonton has had the better teams recently.

 

[SENStastic]

The only correct answer is TO, Mont, Edm, Van. And I'm a Sens fan.

 

[Jack Spider]

I think the actual city of Montreal is 1st for cities. Toronto area is 1st for metropolitan area.

 

[Fatass]

Fanbase size it’s:
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Edmonton

Ranking of NHL teams popularity

Table showing popularity of NHL teams based on social media data, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins are the most popular teams

www.stadium-maps.com

The Habs claim the top spot with 46% of fans listing the Montreal team as their favourite, while 39% are willing to say that about the Leafs, and 25% consider the Vancouver Canucks to be their fave.

When it comes to out-of-market appeal, 38% of Canadians living outside of Alberta list the Calgary Flames as their favourite team, and 37% of those fans live in BC, 34% are in Ontario and 16% live in Saskatchewan.

Lots of fans of other clubs retire to the west coast, if they can afford it.