The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens at the Scotiabank Centre Tuesday night to kick off the NHL season with one of the league’s most storied rivalries. If the numbers are correct, almost five million Quebecers’ hearts will be interested in the result. The consumer analysis company Vividata says that 4.86 million Quebec adults out of the 7.2 million adults in Quebec identify as NHL fans. Around 5.9 million fans across the league named the Habs as their favourite team. The game will feature no less than five of the NHL’s best 50 players along with one of the most popular players in the league. According to Vividata, 1.39 million Canadian NHL fans named the Habs diminutive American winger as their favourite player, third on the list behind multi-MVP winning centres Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid and ahead of Auston Matthews. Nick Suzuki (1.05 million), Lane Hutson (635,000) and Juraj Slafkovsky (484,000) are also very popular players. Researchers, producers and on-air personalities at the NHL Network compiled a list of the top players in the league and two Habs made the list. Cole Caufield came in at 31 and captain Nick Suzuki at 28. For the Leafs, newly acquired goalie Sergei Bobrovsky ranked 36, forward William Nylander came in at 19, while newly minted captain Auston Matthews was 15th on the list. The Vividata report found that 89 per cent of Montreal NHL fans cheer for the home side (the most in the league), while 72 per cent of those in Toronto feel the same way for the Leafs. Twenty-three per cent of those home Habs supporters consider themselves “super fans.” This fan fervour translates to dollars with the average ticket in Montreal going for $203 versus $134 in Toronto. Underdogs no more Predictions for the season have the Habs pulling off another solid season. The Athletic projects the Habs to end the season one point shy off 100 with a seven per cent chance of making the Stanley Cup Finals and a 3.6 per cent chance of winning it all and adding banner no. 25 to the rafters. Four NHL.com staff writers picked Montreal to win the Eastern Conference, while 12 out of 13 of them picked the Habs to be in the top three of the Atlantic Division. Seven of them picked the Habs to be the division’s top team. Senior writer Dan Rosen and managing editor Brian Compton picked the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup with Suzuki (Compton) and Hutson (Rosen) winning the Conn Smythe. The Habs remain the youngest team in the NHL with an average age of 25.61 years. New addition Chris Kreider is the oldest player on the team at 35 years old, and assassin Ivan Demidov is the youngest at the ripe age of 20. Slafkovsky, Hutson, and Florian Xhakaj were all born in 2004. Historic opener It is the 24th time the Habs and Leafs have met to open the season and the seventh time in a row. Last year, the Habs lost 5-2. In the previous five games, Montreal won twice, lost once in regulation, and lost in a shootout and overtime. The Leafs won 14 of the previous 23 opening night games. The matchup will be the 777th Habs-Leafs matchup since 1917, with Montreal holding the edge, with a 370-404-14 record and 88 pre-overtime and shootout ties. The Habs are coming off a conference finals loss to the Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes, and Toronto did not make the playoffs and drafted the NHL Entry Draft first pick Gavin McKenna. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
