Per The State of Hockey News:

In an effort to improve the accuracy of my rankings I am going to utilize a more strict set of criteria for placement.  Each of the league’s 30 teams will be assessed on three basic criteria: 1. Attendance average for the last 3 seasons.  This will entail tabulating the season average against the maximum capacity of the arena they currently play in.  At least 75%-80.9% will equal 6.0, while anything below 75% capacity would equal a 5.  81%-85.9% will equal 7.0, 86%-89.9% equals 8.0.  90%-99% equals 9.0 and anything over 99% will yield a score of 10.  2. A simple Google search taking note of amount of blogs and team-related message boards listed as well as message board activity.  Each component will be graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being outstanding or perfect and 0 being very poor. A portion of this grade will take into account the team’s average finish during that span of time.  In the case of online presence teams are awarded 1 point for every individual blog or team-focused message board that is out there and can receive a maximum score of 100 which would equal a 10 on the 1 to 10 scale with partial points included.  For every assessment there will be an explanation for the grade.  I would also like to toss out a small disclaimer.  While the title of the article is the best and worst fans of the NHL it does not mean that all of the fans of any particular NHL team are bad.  It just means the support for the team; one way or the other isn’t as great as it may be between various teams.  The team’s will be listed with their total score tabulated next to it.  So let’s begin shall we?

#30 – Atlanta Thrashers – 9.2

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 78.8% (14,626, 29th in the NHL)  Online Presence: 3.2

Last Year’s Rank: 26th

Justification: I am going to share a little story with you which will might explain why the Atlanta Thrashers are deserving of being called the league’s worst fans.  Just this spring, I went down Georgia as part of an Educators Tour to Ft. Benning.  On our way back, we were given the day to enjoy downtown Atlanta.  While there I went into a sports apparrel shop, which was filled with all sorts of Atlanta sports team clothing; Braves jerseys, Falcons jerseys, and some college football jerseys yet nowhere to be found was anything pertaining to the Thrashers.  I asked the attendant, “Do you have any Atlanta Thrashers stuff” and I was met with a confused look and then a quick question to her co-worker, “Do we have any Thrashers stuff?”  A few seconds later they pointed me to the only two items they had pertaining to the the Thrashers along with an explaination of how extremely rare it is anyone is looking for their merchandise.  Now does that mean that there are almost no Thrashers fans out there?  No, but in the larger scheme of things there does not appear to be too many.  In a Southern city where its almost a challenge to find someone with a southern drawl, it might surprise people just how many Atlanta residents are people who used to live in areas which are quite familiar with snow and ice.  The Thrashers online presence is very small and that does little to help a team that many in Atlanta seem to struggle to remember they are even there.  That sound you just heard was Ilya Kovalchuk screaming over the fact he has at least one more season with the team.

#29 – Tampa Bay Lightning – 10.7

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 83.4% (16,497, 21st in the NHL)  Online Presence: 3.7

Last Year’s rank: 12th

Justification: It was supposed to be the year of a tremendous transformation for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  With 1st Overall pick from 2008, Steven Stamkos as new showstopper joining an already talent loaded forward core featuring Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis the Lightning, with new old bench boss Barry Melrose were going to bring an exciting brand of game back to Tampa.  It not only stumbled, it basically imploded.  It wasn’t long before the two-headed monster, and I mean that literally when I am talking about dual-owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie started making trades right away and eventually they canned Barry Melrose who left rather bitterly back to ESPN.  The team then installed Rick Tocchet as head coach as they hoped to salvage the season but the Lightning never recovered and finished near the bottom and the attendance reflected that unfortunate turn of events.  By season’s end, Koules and Barrie were at each others’ throats almost requiring a league intervention to get them to be civil to one another.  It is strange to think how far this team has slid considering the fact that its only 4 seasons removed from winning a Stanley Cup proving definitively that simply being exciting is not enough to fill the rather large (by NHL standards) St. Pete Times Forum but winning is what gets butts in the seats.  With the selection of Swedish behemoth defenseman Victor Hedman indicates that better times are in the organizations future but the fans will likely wait to see the wins pile up before they come back.

#28 – Florida Panthers – 11.3

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 81.1% (15,621, 24th in the NHL)  Online Presence: 4.3

Last Year’s Rank: 27th

Justification: Perhaps its a symptom of not having made the playoffs in eight seasons but the Panthers are growing more and more irrelevant each year.  The Panthers have the 2nd lowest percentage of their arena filled in the NHL in 2008-09.  To Florida’s credit they did their best to try to keep its star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester but he wanted out and the Panthers were at least able to swing a deal with the Calgary Flames so they got something in return.  In South Florida, the Panthers have steadily been fading out of the public’s memory as each season appears to be a practice in futility.  The Panthers are indeed getting better on the ice, but the fanbase is growing tired of waiting for next season.  There has been criticism over how many tickets are simply given away to anyone who will take them as well as additional perks like free parking.  As the old adage goes, winning and in this case getting to the playoffs and being successful are likely the only cure for these forlorn cats right now.

#27 – Phoenix Coyotes – 11.6

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 86.8% (14,875, 28th in the NHL)  Online Presence: 3.6

Last Year’s rank: 29th

Justification: An outsider might ask ‘can’t we all just get along’ as the feud between the former Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Ballsillie who was again shut down in his bid to purchase an American-based team and move it to Southern Ontario.  Either way, the off-ice fortunes of the Coyotes (a team that has lost $60 million dollars last season alone!) have been marginally more depressing than the on-ice product.  The Coyotes have only made the post-season once since it moved from Winnipeg in 1997.  While there would definitely be people that would debate the announced attendance as you can see a lot of empty seats most games, the Phoenix area has been one of the hardest hit areas by the economic downturn.  Phoenix has lots of promising young talent in its system but the team does not look to be on the cusp of a playoff run anytime soon so in essense, relief is not in sight.  Online the fanbase is there but still rather small in comparison to the rest of the league’s teams.

#26 – Colorado Avalanche – 12.0

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 85.6% (15,429, 26th in the NHL)  Online Presence: 4.0

Last Year’s rank: 16th

Justification: Perhaps its fitting an Avalanche is a downward slide of snow and ice because it has been downward spiral for the team since 2007-08.  Injuries submarined the team’s dim playoff hopes early in the season as Colorado plummeted towards the bottom of the standings.  Up until the 2005-06 season the team was riding a 10-year sellout streak, but since the team first missed the playoffs in 2006-07 (since it arrived in Colorado) the sellouts have ended and attendance has been dwindling.  The retirement of the franchise’s best skater of all time, Joe Sakic, likely will not help get fans to show up either.  A sagging economy has not helped either, but when the team stopped winning, Denver stopped caring as much.  It will still be a while before Colorado can turn it around, but how much farther will this avalanche travel down the mountain before that begins, or could this team go the way of the Colorado Rockies (the hockey team not the MLB team)?

#25 – New York Islanders – 12.2

Pct. of Capacity in 2008-09: 84.8% (13,773, 30th in the NHL)  Online Presence: 4.3

Last Year’s rank: 28th

Justification: How bad is it for the fans of the New York Islanders, its so bad that the team’s owner Charles Wang said it was a mistake to have purchased the team.  Ouch!  The Islanders fielded a lineup akin to what you’d find in the AHL most nights (minus Mark Streit of course) and this certainly did little to make fans want to fill the Nassau Coliseum most nights, which ESPN called the worst arena in professional sports.  Ouch!  Yet, the Islanders certainly have fans, as the 2009 draft party clearly demonstrated.  Despite the best efforts of Charles Wang and the NHL to attempt to lean on locals to get a new arena the issue appears to be in a stalemate having the Islanders owner at wits end.  A perennial bad team, bad fan experience (i.e. their arena) makes it rough to want to show up and buy tickets.  The selection of John Tavares should mean attendance and general interest in the team should improve but the Islanders are a long way away before they make anyone think they’re next coming of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Islanders online presence is a bit surprising considering the large size of the population they draw their fanbase from.  Sure its split but you’d think it’d be more prevalent than it is.

Click here to continue reading teams 25-1…