Forget the local rivalry; data reveals a surprising Canadian franchise holds the title of Florida’s biggest villain, fueled by recent years of intense playoff heartbreak and sunshine-state dominance.
Hockey in the state of Florida has become much more than just a novelty.
This year will break a streak of six consecutive seasons in which the Stanley Cup Final was played in Florida.
The Tampa Bay Lightning went to the Final each year from 2020 to 2022 and the Florida Panthers reached the Final from 2023 to 2025.
Additionally, despite failing to extend the streak this season, both the Panthers and Lightning are considered among teams that could continue to compete for the Stanley Cup in the foreseeable future.
All that success has given Floridian hockey fans one hell of an in-state rivalry between its two NHL franchises, which has provided some incredibly fun and entertaining hockey games over the past several seasons.
Recently, RotoWire.com put together a guide of the most hated teams in America, going state-by-state.
While that might lead to the question of which team is more disliked inside the state, the Panthers or the Lightning, this collection of data looked to see which teams that played outside of each state were the most hated by those who live on the inside.
So neither the Panthers or Lightning was the most hated in Florida, just like how neither the Rangers or Islanders was most hated in New York, or how none of the Kings, Ducks or Sharks were the most hated in California, and so on.
Interestingly, the most hated team inside the state of Florida is apparently the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida was the only state that had Toronto listed as its most hated.
What makes more sense to this writer would be if it were the other way around. A team from Florida has knocked the Maple Leafs out of the playoffs in three of the past four postseasons; Tampa took out the Leafs in 2022 while Florida eliminated them in both 2023 and 2025.
Do you agree that Toronto is the most hated NHL team in Florida not named the Panthers or Lightning?
No states in the U.S. had the Panthers or Lightning listed as their most hated.
Outside of the Florida result, there were some other interesting elements of this data collection.
The most hated team in the U.S. is, according to this list, the Vegas Golden Knights, who are the most hated team in 11 different states, including Hawaii and Alaska.
Next is the Colorado Avalanche, hated in eight states, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens, who are each hated in five states.
The most hated team in New York was the Boston Bruins, the most hated team in Pennsylvania was the New York Rangers and the most hated team in Massachusetts was the Canadiens.
Some of the seemingly random ones were the Philadelphia Flyers being the most hated team in West Virginia and the Edmonton Oilers being most hated in Nevada.
Let us know in the comments which team you think is the most hated in Florida.
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Photo caption: May 7, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) scores a goal and celebrates with center Anton Lundell (15) against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period in game two of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. (Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)