Most Followed NHL Mascots

Mascots in sport have been around for some time now, and their influence on their team's marketing strategy is ever growing given the prominence of Social Media in 2023. This is even reflected in the average annual salary for a professional mascot in the U.S. — which amounts to a reported $60,000 per year! 

The first professional sports team to use a mascot was the New York Mets. Their mascot was an oversized fan with a baseball for a head named Mr. Met. Nowadays, most sports teams have an active mascot. However, the methods in which each mascot is marketed towards a younger audience differs with each team — with social media playing a pivotal role in this.   

Therefore, the research team at Gambling.com decided to work out the Top 10 most followed mascots in the NHL which measures their huge influence online. They analyzed four different data points to measure this: Facebook following, Instagram following, Twitter following, and TikTok following (according to official mascot accounts as of April 2023). 

Top 10 Most Followed NHL Mascots 

Our findings discovered Gritty, the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, came out on top by a distance. With over 1.7 million combined followers, it beat N.J. Devil of the New Jersey Devils in second (281,000) and Louie of the St. Louis Blues in third place (203,000). 

Gritty had by far the highest number of Tik Tok (1 million),Twitter (329,000), and Instagram (382,000) followers, which contributed to taking the No. 1 spot in our list.

San Jose Sharks mascot S.J. Sharkie, in the No. 5 spot, had the highest number of Facebook followers, with 58,000.

For Facebook, San Jose Sharks' S.J. Sharkie, in No. 1 spot with 58,000 followers, narrowly beat runner-up Bailey, of the Los Angeles Kings, with 57,000. 

St. Louis Blues mascot Louie was No. 3 while Sparky the Dragon (New York Islanders), Coyote (San Antonio Spurs) and Slapshot (Washington Capitals) came in fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

For Twitter, Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty, took the No. 1 spot by a landslide with 392,000 followers. 

Gnash of the Nashville Predators was No. 2 while Bailey (Los Angeles Kings), S.J. Sharkie (San Jose Sharks) and N.J. Devil (New Jersey Devils) came in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

For TikTok, Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty, took the No. 1 spot by another landslide with 1 million followers. 

N.J. Devil of the New Jersey Devils was No. 2 while Louie (St. Louis Blues), Slapshot (Washington Capitals) and Stormy (Carolina Hurricanes) came in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

For Instagram, Gritty, of the Philadelphia Flyers, once again took the No. 1 spot with 382,000 followers. Nearly a clean sweep!

Bailey of the Los Angeles Kings was No. 2 while S.J. Sharkie (San Jose Sharks), N.J. Devil (New Jersey Devils) and Louie (St. Louis Blues) came in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. 

Methodology 

Four different data points were measured in an index. They were:

• Facebook following
• Instagram following
• TikTok following
• Twitter following

All four index points were added for a total value (total combined followers). All active mascots across the NHL with at least 100 followers on the official mascot Social Media channels were factored into the research. All figures are correct as of 2023/04/25.