leafs fans annoying

Toronto Maple Leafs fans were just ranked the worst in the entire NHL

The Canadian maple leaf may be a popular look for those travelling abroad, but it's a different story with the Toronto Maple Leafs' iconic blue and white logo. Wear it anywhere beyond the Greater Toronto Area, especially outside of Ontario, and you're bound to hear some muttering and groans from passersby.

Leafs fans are all too familiar with being the laughing stock of the NHL, and it doesn't come as an earth-shattering shock to hear that fans in other markets aren't exactly too fond of the buds or their annually-disappointed fanbase.

Fans of the probably-cursed franchise have just been crowned the worst in the league in a few departments in a poll of over 6,500 fans created by hockey analyst JFresh.

And it wasn't even remotely close, as the Leafs' fanbase easily outpaced 31 other teams to rank as the most annoying, delusional and unhinged in the entire NHL.

Surprising literally nobody, it was Montreal Canadiens fans who found Leafs supporters to be the worst, with 81 per cent of Habs fans voting Leafs fans as the most insufferable.

Not too far behind Montreal, 79 per cent of Winnipeg Jets fans and 76 per cent of Edmonton Oilers fans voted Toronto as the most annoying fanbase.

The rankings looked very similar in the "most delusional" category, rabid Leafs fans still somehow believing that the prestige of a Stanley Cup championship is always one season away when the team can't even win a first-round series.

This same undying belief in something the team hasn't accomplished since 1967 and the inevitable crushing defeat that follows is a good combination to make fans a bit…umm…tense around playoff season.

So when fans across the league had to choose which fanbase was the "most unhinged and prone to melting down over next to nothing," Toronto was an easy choice. Almost half of the total votes in this category — across 32 teams — went to the Leafs.

Other markets may consider Toronto to be the most annoying, delusional, and unhinged, but it seems our own self-awareness could use a bit of fine-tuning.

Leafs fans were only the 5th most willing to describe their own fellow fans as particularly annoying, behind Montreal, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Vancouver.

And despite all of the hate NHL fans seem to have for the city, Toronto somehow ranked as the top fanbase that is not as annoying as its reputation.

So I suppose the takeaway here is that Leafs fans are indeed the most annoying in the league, but they're still not as bad as generally perceived. Little victories I guess.

Lead photo by

Jack Landau


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