The team over at Daily Faceoff recently unveiled their consolidated ranking of the National Hockey League’s most tortured fanbases. These are the fanbases who have seen the least winning and have been through the most suffering, ranked from 32nd to 1st. Six writers submitted their rankings to form one ranking, providing an explanation for each.
Unsurprisingly, the Vegas Golden Knights came in at 32. Vegas has enjoyed plenty of success and even a Stanley Cup Championship despite still being three years away from turning 10. It’s no wonder the Golden Knights are one of the most hated teams around the league — half the fun of sports is supporting your team during the lean years and finally seeing them win a championship one a day. Or so we’re told *sighs*.
The Toronto Maple Leafs ranked at number one, and not far behind them were the Vancouver Canucks at number three, just behind their expansion sibling Buffalo Sabres at number two. Three of the six writers slotted the Canucks in at number two, while the other three ranked them at number three. It was a close race, but in the final ranking, the Canucks were ranked third with the following explanation provided:
“The proverbial “look at me” franchise that’s never accomplished anything and are now hoping their talented young core can put something in the rafters that isn’t another reminder of failed expectations. No one would fault the Vancouver Canucks for losing to the Islanders in the early 1980s, and there’s no shame in losing to the Rangers’ Team of Destiny © in 1994, but everything since then has been nothing short of disappointing. Think about it: The Mark Messier debacle? Failing to get the Sedin twins a Stanley Cup title? Enabling the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident? Forget the team itself: the city is so insecure about wanting to be a European metropolis that they had a full-scale soccer riot after losing Game 7 against the Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.”
While that last line sure sounds like it was written by somebody who wished they too could live in Vancouver, it’s hard to disagree that the Canucks’ 50+ years without a Stanley Cup while coming oh-so-close on more than one occasion gives Canucks fans every right to be near the top of the list when it comes to the NHL’s most tortured fanbases.
