Who NHL Players are Following on Twitter
Who and what NHL athletes gravitate toward
Analyzing the entire network of NHL players, and who they're following, yields interesting and amusing results.
This article will explore and visualize the data.Most Popular
Bob Mckenzie is by far the most popular follow among NHL players. He's followed more than both the official NHL and NHLPA accounts.
The most followed person not associated with the NHL is Tiger Woods.
Mike Commodore is followed by less than 100,000 people but followed by 140 NHL players.
| # | Name | Username | # of NHL Players Followed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob McKenzie | @TSNBobMcKenzie | 373 |
| 2 | NHLPA | @NHLPA | 358 |
| 3 | NHL | @NHL | 329 |
| 4 | Paul Bissonnette | @BizNasty2point0 | 292 |
| 5 | Darren Dreger | @DarrenDreger | 292 |
| 6 | Pierre LeBrun | @PierreVLeBrun | 245 |
| 7 | Elliotte Friedman | @FriedgeHNIC | 165 |
| 8 | The Players' Tribune | @PlayersTribune | 158 |
| 9 | Tiger Woods | @TigerWoods | 151 |
| 10 | James Duthie | @tsnjamesduthie | 146 |
| 11 | Kevin Weekes | @KevinWeekes | 144 |
| 12 | Mike Commodore | @commie22 | 140 |
| 13 | Rory McIlroy | @McIlroyRory | 134 |
| 14 | Bucci Mane | @Buccigross | 132 |
| 15 | Donald J. Trump | @realDonaldTrump | 130 |
| 16 | Jay Onrait | @JayOnrait | 130 |
| 17 | Jeremony Roenick | @Jeremy_Roenick | 129 |
| 18 | Barstool Sports | @barstoolsports | 128 |
| 19 | CNN Breaking News | @cnnbrk | 125 |
| 20 | not Dany Heatley | @DanyAllStar15 | 121 |
| 21 | Jimmy Fallon | @jimmyfallon | 118 |
You can download a longer list of the top people that players follow here
Other Team Sports
Among NHL players, the NFL is the most popular on Twitter.
Individual sports
- Golf (80 players following @PGATOUR)
- UFC (27 players following @ufc)
- NASCAR (5 players following @NASCAR)
Wayne vs. Paulina
It isn't a competition, but surprisingly being the greatest of all time doesn't necessarily mean you're the most popular on social media (or even in your family).53 NHL players follow Paulina Gretzky, 44 NHL players follow Wayne Gretzky
Space
Some players are interested in Nasa, SpaceX, or Elon Musk. No one is following Blue Origin (@blueorigin) yet though!
Breaking Bad
Visualizing the players interested in 'Breaking Bad' and (some) of its actors; Sam Ganger is apparently quite the fan.
Console Wars
Visualizing the console wars. Xbox is the favorite among players.
Amusing Footnotes
Patrick Kaleta is the only player in the NHL following @WWE, Yannick Weber is the only player following @WWFA surprising number of players follow the parody account @SidneyCrosbyEgo
No one follows any of the fake/parody Gary Bettman accounts that are on Twitter
Zach Boychuk follows 730,000+ people on Twitter. For reference, everyone in the entire NHL, omitting the few players who follow more than 3000 people, only follow around 125,000 people in total
Disclaimers (Boring Information)
The data that was analyzed was captured between August 4th and 5th in 2017.I omitted any NHL player accounts following more than 3000 people from this analysis.
The player list is built from this Twitter list. I noticed that it contains a few mistakes but everyone on the list appears to either be in the NHL or a recent ex-NHL player.
Any other analysis or data you'd like to see? Let me know on reddit or twitter