Hurricanes Finish Bottom-5 in NHL’s Most Dedicated Fans

The Carolina Hurricanes are just a “bunch of jerks.” At least according to Canadian TV commentator Don Cherry, who pinned that phrase on the squad because their players started celebrating home victories in fun, unique ways.

Their fans, the Caniacs, have accepted their team of “jerks” as the play of the Canes has improved. Carolina’s roster has been revamped over the past few years and led to four straight NHL Stanley Cup playoff appearances.

Going into the 2022-23 NHL season, BetCarolina.com developed a matrix system to rank the 31 NHL teams (Seattle eliminated because it has had only one year of existence) based on the dedication of their fans. 

Unfortunately, online North Carolina sports betting is not legal ahead of the new NHL season.

Hope For The Future

Despite the revived fanbase in and around Raleigh, N.C., the Hurricanes still found themselves down near the bottom of the list. Tied for 27th with the Ottawa Senators, Carolina was hurt significantly by their attendance numbers from the 2014-15 to 2017-18 NHL seasons.

During that period, Caniacs weren’t showing up to see the bottom-of-the-league squad as Carolina finished in the bottom three in attendance in four straight years. When you add on their lack of engagement towards their social media accounts, it turned into a bad ranking for the Canes’ fanbase.

No need to fear, because if Carolina wins a division for the third straight year in 2022-23, the fans' dedication will continue to go up.  

The odds of that happening look good. With the additions of defenseman Brent Burns and forwards Paul Statsny & Max Pacioretty, the Hurricanes stand as the prohibitive favorite to win the Metropolitan Division at +195 on BetMGM.