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The final whistle has blown on another @NHL regular season. Over the past six months, hockey fans have flocked to Twitter to join conversations about the league’s top players, cheer on their favourite teams and react in real-time to trades, signings and more.
Here is a look at the trends, teams and talents that told the @NHL story on Twitter this season.
The Teams
The Pittsburgh Penguins (@Penguins) will be heading to the Stanley Cup playoffs this week for the 13th straight season. For 2018/2019, they also had the @NHL team account with the most regular season mentions.
These were the @NHL teams with the most account mentions during the 2018/2019 regular season:
The Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) were the Canadian team with the most account mentions for the second straight season. This was 42% more mentions than the Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) and 130% more mentions than the Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames), the second and third most-mentions squads amongst Canadian teams.
Along with the Leafs, the @NHLFlames and the Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) will be representing Canada in the Stanley Cup playoffs this Spring. Both enjoyed big upticks in Twitter conversation this year. Account mentions for the @NHLFlames grew 17% year-over-year during this regular season while mentions of the @NHLJets grow 18%.
The emergence of the Caroline Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) as a Twitter force was another big story this season, buoyed by big personalities and many Retweetable celebrations on and off the ice. Not only did the ‘canes crack the Top 10 most-mentioned team accounts this season, account mentions for the @NHLCanes grew by a staggering 134% year-over-year.
The Talent
Despite missing close to 20 games because of injuries, Maple Leafs’ forward Auston Matthews (@AM34) had the @NHL player account with the most Twitter mentions for the third straight season.
These were the @NHL players with the most account mentions during the 2018/2019 regular season:
Two other @MapleLeafs players made the Top 10 most-mentioned list with Mitch Marner (@Marner93) in seventh spot and William Nylander (@wmnyalnder) at eighth.
Vancouver Canucks rookie Elias Petterson (@_EPettersson) was another Canada-based pro who was a popular topic on Twitter this year. He also made the Top 10 most-mentioned player list and saw his Twitter following grew by more than 120% during the regular season.
Keep Twitter close during the #StanleyCup Playoffs for the latest premium content and conversation from hockey fans worldwide.
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