The Edmonton Oilers have gained 26,000 new Twitter followers during their Stanley Cup playoff run so far.
It’s an impressive statistic that Twitter Canada contributes to the loyal fan base and the dramatic games the team has been playing.
The Oilers are also beating the only other Canadian team in the playoffs when it comes to Twitter chatter.
“When you look at the first two rounds combined, the Oilers actually have 1.8 times more mentions on Twitter than the Senators do,” Cam Gordon with Twitter Canada said.
“I think that speaks to the fact that they came into the playoffs with more followers overall and… just overall, there’s so many big moments with the Oilers — these overtime wins, the last game when they scored seven, and scored so many goals so quickly.”
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Game 6 versus the Ducks was the Oilers game with the most Twitter volume.
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Edmonton has been the third-most mentioned team during the playoffs, after the Penguins and the Predators.
Connor McDavid remains the Oilers’ most mentioned player, despite a playoff presence that’s been less prominent than many expected.
“With this volume, it’s not necessarily a gauge on sentiment,” Gordon explained.
“McDavid might have the most mentions, but that’s not necessarily people cheering him on; it’s people perhaps questioning his play or perhaps even complaining, you know, ‘Why isn’t he scoring more? We need him to do more.’ It’s really a fulsome look at all types of reactions you see on Twitter.”
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Leon Draisaitl is the second-most mentioned Oiler, followed by Zack Kassian, Cam Talbot and Milan Lucic.
“That’s all the positive comments and it’s also the not-so-positive comments,” Gordon said. “Certainly with McDavid, he’s been under a lot of scrutiny. We actually put him head-to-head with Sidney Crosby, and Crosby has more mentions than McDavid in the playoffs. But, as you can imagine, a lot of those mentions with Crosby are about his ongoing concussion issues.”