I'm a little late to the party, but...
You're living in OUR heads rent-free? You're the one talking smack in the summer, as Leafs fans always do, because July is all you ever win. Your "victory" in the Tavares sweepstakes is literally the only "win" you have over any franchise in the entire National Hockey League in HOW many decades? You had like 4 to 6 times the money we did for 30 years, and you "Won" a whole lot of free agency/off-seasons and had about the same playoff success we did before we got owners to bring us back to being GOOD NOW.
You've got this backwards... the Islanders fans don't give a damn about THE LEAFS. THE LEAFS are a hilarious clown shoes organization that keeps making stupid moves, choke constantly and embarrass themselves. The Islanders fans felt betrayal by John Tavares.
That's it. THE LEAFS don't matter. When your team visits, and our crowd goes nuts... no one is booing THE LEAFS. It's ALL about JOHN TAVARES. What you heard most was WE DON'T NEED YOU. Not "Leafs Suck." The other 22 guys on the roster did nothing but crush your hopes and dreams again. Only Tavares did anything to us.
Now, do we make jokes about the Leafs? Of course. Not because THE LEAFS deserve it. THE LEAFS are just a funnier Florida Panthers. The Panthers probably aren't winning anything either, but none of us have ever met a Panthers fan who acts like they're God's gift to hockey, or are arrogant D-Bags when their team is nothing but a participant for the 60th straight year. (No offense, Panthers fans).
In New York, the Mets fans see the Yankees fans act like THEY had something to do with the team's 27 World Championships, and they're kind of arrogant and annoying about it. BUT THEY ACTUALLY WON 27 CHAMPIONSHIPS. It pains me to type that as a Mets fan, but they actually SHOULD be the most obnoxious arrogant fan base in the league, because they're the most successful team.
So we see that same arrogance for a Toronto fan base, when the team, again, is basically just the Florida Panthers. So we all crack jokes when you lose. And NEWS FLASH: It's not just us! The entire league hates Leafs fans. Period. Not the Leafs. The fans. Because it's super annoying to deal with a fan base acting like 27-time champions when all they do is blow just A TON MORE MONEY than everyone else to barely make the playoffs and then choke away first round series. When you choke two or three rounds early than the Sharks always do, it's MFing hilarious. Because Sharks fans just want to win, while you think you deserve to win.
EVERY LEAFS JOKE is because of your terrible fan base that no one likes. It's because you think your team MATTERS more than everyone else's team when your team is totally irrelevant. Leafs fans act like their team is above everyone else's, when by any metric of success you're BELOW small market and expansion teams like Tampa, St. Louis, Washington, Carolina, Dallas, Colorado, New Jersey, Anaheim, Calgary, who've I've seen win the Cup. Never seen you win one. You're below bigger teams like Detroit, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, who've won MULTIPLE Cups in our lifetime. Below dynasties like Montreal, NY Islanders and Edmonton in my lifetime.
I've also seen Minnesota (North Stars, not Wild), Ottawa, Buffalo, Nashville, San Jose, Florida, and Vegas PLAY in the Stanley Cup finals, so you're below them, too. Basically every city with a team except Phoenix, Columbus, Winnipeg and Toronto have at least won a conference final in the time I've been alive. Hell, I'm surprised Seattle didn't go further than you in the time it took to write out every member of the league; All of who have either won more than the Leafs, or talked a lot less than the Leafs fans.
So no, THE LEAFS don't live "Rent Free" in Islanders fans heads. Or anyone's heads. The Leafs aren't good enough to be anyone's heads. The Leafs are a joke and their fan base should wear duct tape on their mouths or message board fingers until you actually win something.
Oh, and Adam Pelech is really good at defense. Great contract.
