The One Player on Every NHL Team That Their Own Fans Hate

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NHL fans are some of the most passionate people on the planet.

They bleed the colors of their team and are ferocious when defending their team against other fans.

Still, even though they love their teams with every fiber of their being, sometimes the fans aren't so kind to every player on the team.

Sometimes a player and a fanbase just don't match.

Anaheim Ducks

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Jean-Francois Jacques is currently residing on the Ducks' AHL affiliate, but he's played six games for the Ducks this year.

The Ducks and their fans quickly got tired of him when, in his two brief stints with the team, he got himself suspended twice.

That's not going to keep you with any team for long.

Boston Bruins

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Joe Corvo came to the Boston Bruins early in this season, but lately he hasn't found Boston a very warm place to be.

Just looking through Twitter, there are several less-than-flattering comments about Joe Corvo to be found.

Fans saying that they aren't above punching Corvo in the face.

Calling Corvo a defensive liability that shows no effort when he is on the ice.

Boston can be a pretty tough place to play if you aren't performing well for the fans that come to see the games, but this is bad even for Boston fans.

Corvo is not well liked.

Buffalo Sabres

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Ville Leino might be the biggest bust of last year's free-agent class.

Leino had a great postseason with the Flyers and signed a big deal with the Sabres that gives him a $4.5 million cap hit.

Leino has repaid the Sabres with just four goals and a total of 17 points. 

Not a sound investment on the part of the Sabres.

To be fair, there are a lot of people for Sabres fans to be upset with after this season. What a mess it has turned into out there.

Calgary Flames

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Calgary is a small market that loves their Flames very much. There may be trade rumors that come up surrounding several of their guys, but they don't hate anybody on their team.

The guy that might get the least amount of love or is perhaps the least appreciated is Jay Bouwmeester.

He logs a lot of minutes, but he has found himself in the minus category a lot lately, and he's minus-41 on his career.

Flames fans probably wouldn't shed too many tears if Bouwmeester were to find another place to play.

Carolina Hurricanes

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It's hard to say that fans really "hate" Chad LaRose, but he certainly isn't earning himself a lot of favor in Carolina at the moment.

LaRose is currently minus-18 on the season, yet he still seems to log a great deal of penalty-kill time, as well as 16 minutes of ice time per game.

The 'Canes have been struggling this season, so some guys with bad numbers are bound to pop out, but LaRose seems to be the guy earning the least amount of love in Raleigh.

 

Thanks to Hurricanes Featured Columnist Mark Jones for his insights on this article.  Check out his latest piece right here.

Chicago Blackhawks

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For the Blackhawks, this really could work two different ways.

You could say Niklas Hjalmarsson, because when the Blackhawks matched the offer sheet he signed from the San Jose Sharks, the Hawks had no more room for Antti Niemi, the goalie that helped them reach the promised land.

That was more management's fault, however, so I'm going to go with Corey Crawford.

I'm not sure how many players are actually going to be hated on this list, but Crawford is definitely a source of frustration for Blackhawks fans, especially this season.

Crawford's goals-against average sits at 2.92, and his save percentage is exactly .900. 

These are not numbers that are going to get a team back to the Stanley Cup, and the fanbase in Chicago now expects it each year.

Colorado Avalanche

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If you follow the Avalanche Twitter feeds like I do, this is easy to understand.

Almost every single game, whether or not Hunwick is even in the lineup, you will see this hash tag come out at least once.

#BlameHunwick.

Hunwick had a horrific season with the Avalanche last year after he was traded away from Boston, and it didn't endear him to fans.

His horrific turnovers and sense of fear to make any type of contact with anybody on the ice, which frequently left him a spectator on several goals against, left several Avalanche fans less than pleased with his constant presence.

This also turned a lot of people against Joe Sacco, who seemed determined to give Hunwick nearly 20 minutes of ice time despite the fact that he was an absolute liability.

In fairness, the games Hunwick has played this year have been far better than anything he showed last season.

Still, whenever he's on the ice, Avalanche fans hold their breath in fear.

Columbus Blue Jackets

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Jeff Carter has got to be the most hated man in Columbus right now, outside of the GM of the team.

Carter was supposed to be the missing link. The guy that would team up with Rick Nash and make the Blue Jackets a force to be reckoned with.

This has obviously not been the case.

Carter has underperformed from the beginning. Plus, early rumors that Carter wasn't happy in Columbus and wanted to be traded certainly didn't help his image.

He's currently being looked at as a huge mistake in Columbus.

 

Thanks to Featured Columnist Patrick Drottar for his insights on this piece.  Check out his latest article here.

Dallas Stars

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Reading through some of the fan boards on the Dallas Stars website, it's clear that many of the fans don't think that much of Andrew Raycroft.

Raycroft certainly is another player who hasn't lived up to his potential, especially when he came into the league with such flare and won the Calder Trophy.

Seems many Stars fans on this board would be content to see him sent to their AHL affiliate as a backup and let the younger players grow.

Detroit Red Wings

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The Red Wings are a team that has very loyal fans. If you wear the wing, you are one of them and they will support you.

The worst that Wings players usually get from their fans is a guy that fans maybe don't fully like will still support nonetheless.

Jiri Hudler may have seen the most ire of any Red Wing from the fans earlier in the season. Fans really didn't want this guy around.

Hudler has had a good season, so he's managed to change some minds, but there is still a bit of a lack of trust from Red Wings fans in this guy.

 

Thanks to Red Wings Featured Columnist, PJ Sapienza, for his help on this article.  Check out his latest piece right here.

Edmonton Oilers

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Ales Hemsky is a guy that Oilers fans are just upset that he never really became the type of player that he could be.

He has always had a lot of skill and potential, it just never managed to turn into anything spectacular.

Plus, he's had a couple of injury-riddled seasons that hurt his development even more.

Florida Panthers

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Erik Gudbranson is a young fellow—only drafted back in 2010—so there is still a lot of development for him to do.

Nonetheless, he was taken third overall in that draft and it seems that he is struggling to be an effective NHL defender.

He's played 48 games this year, is minus-17 (worst on the team) and hasn't exactly produced much offensively, either.

Still, he's young and will get better.

Los Angeles Kings

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Dustin Penner has been a huge flop since he was traded to L.A. last season.

The guy is huge and has the potential to be a game-changing power forward, but he's lazy and doesn't assert himself.

Kings fans can't wait for him to be traded or for his contract to expire.

Minnesota Wild

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Again, I'm not going to say that the fanbase hates him, but the frustration with Latendresse has to be there.

Latendresse had a 20-goal season and figured to be breaking out, but then injuries kept catching up with him.

No hate, just a lot of frustration with a guy that just can't stay healthy.

All in all, Minnesota fans are very devoted to their hockey team.

Montreal Canadiens

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Scott Gomez was expected to make a big impact when the Montreal Canadiens traded for him a couple of years back.

Gomez has been a huge flop for the Habs, and his big contract takes up a lot of space and Montreal can't get rid of him fast enough.

Fans are very not pleased with how little he has contributed to their franchise.

Nashville Predators

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The Predators are another team whose fans don't really hate anybody on their team. They may become frustrated with production, but the organization does a pretty good job of keeping a festive atmosphere around the team.

David Legwand has been a career Predator, the team's first-ever draft pick.

While he is adored as a guy who has spent his whole career in an expansion franchise, lately he is just not very productive.

Legwand is a rather overrated player in general and has never lived up to the high draft pick that he was for the Preds.

 

Thanks to Nashville Predators Featured Columnist Steven Cook for his insights on this article.  Check out his latest article right here.

New Jersey Devils

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When Ilya Kovalchuk is scoring, Devils fans are happy campers.

When he has a year like last year and when he struggles as he did earlier in the season, frustration hits the New Jersey faithful because the club signed him to the most absurd contract that any of us have ever seen.

New Jersey went after this guy because of his prolific goal scoring—six straight seasons of more than 40 goals, to be exact.

He barely cracked 30 last year and seems that he probably won't hit 40 again this season.

Kovalchuk is also not the best defensive player that has ever played, with a career plus/minus rating of minus-107.

Granted, that's not what he's paid to do, but it's tough to see the same guys out for goals against.

New York Islanders

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Rick DiPietro—for reasons that nobody needs to explain.

Again, they don't hate him, it's just his huge contract that nobody will take because the guy gets injured taking out the trash.

New York Rangers

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My initial instinct here was to go with Sean Avery, but thanks to my fellow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist, Tom Urtz, we'll go a different direction.

Brandon Dubinsky isn't really so much hated in New York, as people think that he's overrated.

Dubinsky is a $4.2 million cap hit for the Rangers, yet he has only logged 25 points to this point of the year.

Yes, it can be unfair to judge a player's performance by the size of their salary, but when your team is paying a guy that much every year, the fans will naturally expect more production out of him.

Dubinsky isn't "giving them what they've paid for," so to speak.

Ottawa Senators

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Kyle Turris has had an up-and-down time since he arrived in Ottawa after holding out and demanding a trade from Phoenix.

He started out very strong, but he's really struggled of late. His numbers are less than spectacular, as he has put up only 14 points in 27 games.

People in Ottawa expected more from him since they did give up a second-round draft pick and prospect David Rundblad in order to get Turris.

All in all, Ottawa fans are pretty happy campers since nobody expected that the Senators would be in the playoffs this year. The Sens have far exceeded expectations.

Philadelphia Flyers

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This could also be changed to "whoever is in goal at the time for the Flyers."

Philadelphia fans are brutal to their goalies and have been ever since Ron Hextall left.

Hextall's personality matched up so well with the fans of the Flyers that there was a natural love affair between the two.

Ever since, the Flyers fans haven't gotten what they wanted from a goalie and have taken out their frustrations on them as a result.

Phoenix Coyotes

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It's hard to come up with one for Phoenix since it seems like not too many people really go to see Coyotes games anymore.

Derek Morris has become a bit of a journeyman ever since the Avalanche gave up on him and traded him to Phoenix.

He's never reached his potential as a top-tier defender and currently holds Phoenix's worst plus/minus rating at minus-10.

Another case of potential never realized.

Pittsburgh Penguins

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As an agitator, Matt Cooke naturally falls into that realm of players who fans naturally hate unless he plays for your team.

Not often do those guys get as much hate from their own fans.

Penguin fans like him when he isn't concussing people with cheap shots that he should know better than to use after his many lengthy suspensions.

To be fair, Cooke has done a lot to help himself in the eyes of all hockey fans this season, but his past doesn't do him any favors.

Despite his efforts this season, Cooke still has the reputation of a player that makes stupid hits that endanger players.

San Jose Sharks

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Joe Thornton might be one of the least appreciated guys in hockey today.

When the Sharks' offense is going great, people in San Jose are happy and have nothing but good things to say about Jumbo Joe.

When the team is struggling, for one reason or another, it is always Joe Thornton's fault.

He's not contributing, he's not shooting, he's not passing and it really isn't fair.

Again, not too many San Jose fans could really be accused of hating anybody on their team, but there is a certain amount of animosity towards Thornton that is just inexplicable.

St. Louis Blues

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St. Louis fans are starting to see why the Avalanche were fine with sending Stewart away.

Stewart started off really hot with the Blues after being traded to St. Louis a season ago, but he's really let his lack of effort on the ice affect his play.

Just to put it in context, Stewart had more points (23) in the 26 games he played with St. Louis last season than he does in 54 games this year (22).

His effort is just simply not there. He's lazy everywhere except in the offensive zone, and he isn't even working terribly hard there anymore.

Tampa Bay Lightning

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As Tampa Bay Lightning Contributor Robert Theodorson put it, you're not going to find a lot of guys on a smaller-market team being booed by their fans.

Tampa Bay really stands by their players, so there really isn't anybody that is going to be hated in Tampa by their own fans.

Perhaps the least trusted guy on the team is Marc-Andre Bergeron.

He has a fantastic upside offensively, but he is a defensive liability that makes things difficult for his own team.

This might make him the source of a decent amount of fan frustration, which is as close as Lightning fans would get to hating their own guys.

Bergeron is, after all, the guy who many people think cost his own team a real shot at the Stanley Cup when he plowed a Hurricane player into his own goalie and took him out of the series.

 

Check out Robert Theodorson's latest piece here.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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Mike Komisarek is mostly disliked in Toronto due to the fact that his salary is inflated for what he gives on the ice.

Komisarek brings along a $4.5 million cap hit and barely over 10 points a season. 

Now, he's not supposed to be an offensive guy, but his defensive abilities haven't been that great, either. 

He's been better this year, but Leaf fans wouldn't be sad to see Komisarek or his contract go elsewhere.

 

Thanks to Jeff Langridge for his insights on this article.  Check out his latest piece here.

Vancouver Canucks

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Vancouver fans are some of the most passionate and most fickle fans in the league.

Not hating on you, Vancouver, just stating what it is I see from you guys.

When things are going well and the team is winning games, everybody in Vancouver loves Roberto Luongo.

The second there is some kind of turmoil, all the hating on old Bobby Lu begins.

We hear "Trade him," "Schneider's a better goalie," "Won't ever win the big one with Luongo."

Then the team starts to win again and, once again, nothing wrong with Luongo.

Washington Capitals

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Alexander Semin is one of those guys that just can't seem to break through to be a star.

He's got all of the skills to be a dominant superstar in the NHL, he just doesn't seem to have the desire to work hard enough to make it become a reality.

This makes him the point of a lot of frustration with the fans in Washington because they see how good this guy could be and how he doesn't put the work in to make it happen.

 

Thanks to Capitals Featured Columnist Ryan Davenport for his insights on this article. Check out his latest piece here.

Winnipeg Jets

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Evander Kane is one of, if not the most talented player on the Winnipeg Jets, but he has drawn criticism for his behavior off of the ice in Winnipeg.

Not long ago, Puck Daddy posted a story where a fan brought a sign that read:

Dear Evander: Please stop walking out on your bills!!!  Sincerely, Winnipeg Servers and Restaurateurs.

This brought out questions about Kane's maturity, which wasn't helped by his response, which he sent out via Twitter.

Ha, Ha. What a complete lie this is but I really like the colours on the poster.

Not exactly the type of response you want the face of your franchise sending out to the citizens that begged and pleaded to get a hockey team back in their city.

You aren't in Atlanta anymore, Evander. People now actually care more about what happens to their hockey team than any of the other major sports in the world.