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Top 5 Most Followed NHL Twitter Accounts

NHL on Twitter

Each of the 30 teams in the NHL have Twitter accounts on which they post team transactions, ticket offers, player information, injury updates, team events and live tweets throughout the team’s games and so much more.

Following any NHL team on Twitter gives fans an inside look at all of the goings throughout the year.

The five most followed team accounts are not a big surprise. Here are the teams crushing it on social media.

5 Most Followed NHL Twitter Accounts

5. Detroit Red Wings

Twitter Handle: @DetroitRedWings
Followers: 216,900

The perennial powerhouse Detroit Red Wings are the fifth most followed NHL team on Twitter.  It’s easy to keep a fan base interested when you are in the hunt for the playoffs every season.  The Red Wings continually turn in great regular season efforts, winning less than 40 games only one time since 1996-97 (38) when the were crowned Stanley Cup Champions.  They went on to add four more Stanley Cup appearances in 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2009 capturing the championship in their first three of those contests.

4. Boston Bruins


Twitter Handle: @NHLBruins
Followers: 242,700

The Bruins Stanley Cup Championship in 2011 propelled them into the top 5 Twitter accounts in the NHL.  The front office has done a good job keeping the fan base interested by inking three of their biggest stars to contract extensions earlier this fall.  Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand will be with the Bruins for at least the next few years.  Another shot at the Stanley Cup is highly likely.

One thing the Bruins must not like is having the fourth most Twitter followers among Boston’s professional sports teams.  The Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox all have more followers than the Bruins, even though the Bruins have won the most recent championship of the four (Celtics 2008, Patriots 2005, Red Sox 2007).

3. Pittsburgh Penguins


Twitter Handle: @penguins
Followers: 266,000

In 2007, The Kid, Sydney Crosby, led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.  The emergence of a superstar, and the ability to put together a string of winning seasons make the Penguins the third most followed NHL team on Twitter.  With a Stanley Cup appearance in 2008 (lost to Red Wings in 7 games) and a Stanley Cup Championship in 2009, the Penguins have regained relevance for the first time since the days of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

2. Vancouver Canucks


Twitter Handle: @VanCanucks
Followers: 313,100

The Vancouver Canucks hold the second most popular Twitter account in the NHL.  Having made the playoffs each of the past four seasons, with a Stanley Cup appearance in 2011 (loss to Bruins in 7 games), the Canucks have shown the rest of the NHL that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Twin brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Captain and Associate Captain respectively, lead the Canucks offensive attack that has put them in the playoffs for each of the past four seasons.  Though they have never won a Stanley Cup since they entered the NHL in 1970, the Canucks have the benefit of playing in the third largest city in Canada.

1. Montreal Canadiens


Twitter Handle: @CanadiensNHL
Followers: 330,400

Despite the fact that they have not won the Stanley Cup since the 1992-93 season, the Canadiens have entrenched themselves at the top of the Twitter Standings.  This can be attributed to one simple fact: Hockey is popular in Canada.  Canadiens fans are as rabid about hockey as Yankees fans are about baseball.  They have opinions on everything from the coaches and players to their announcers.  2012 Canadiens Interim Head Coach Randy Cunneyworth’s tenure was short lived, in part, because Canadian fans, including Canadian government officials, were incensed that he did not speak French.

The Canadiens, playing in the second largest metropolitan area in Canada, have won a league high 24 Stanley Cup Championships out of the 35 they appeared in since 1916.  They are, undoubtedly, the most storied franchise in the NHL.  The fact that they failed to reach the playoffs in 2012 will not scare many Canadiens fans away.

Michel Therrien, installed as Head Coach after the 2012 season, is serving in this capacity with the Canadiens for the second time.  Therrien was the Habs Head Coach between 2001 and 2003 and comes back to some mixed reactions.  Love him or hate him, Canadiens fans are talking about him.


The NHL has a huge presence on Twitter.  Even the basement-dwellers have very large followings, and when the NHL comes back from its work stoppage, those numbers will probably grow. Comment below for other great teams to follow, and make sure to tweet out to @SportsNetworker

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3 Responses to Top 5 Most Followed NHL Twitter Accounts

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