Athletes from all sports and leagues are slowly joining the ranks of social media and giving fans an entirely new perspective on their daily lives.

The NHL has quickly become one of the most Twitter-active sports.

Given the intensity of their usual jobs, however, many players use their handles little. Sorting through the thousands of certified accounts to find the stars worth following is not the easiest of tasks, even for the most diehard fan.

Thankfully, we've done it for you. From offering the best week-to-week insight into the NHL life to sending out hilarious commentary on non-sports-related events, these eight players certainly deserve a follow.

 

Brooks Laich

Twitter Handle: @brookslaich

Followers: 10,581

Laich might be sidelined this season with a lingering injury, but his mild discomfort certainly isn't keeping him away from the internet. 

Expect a funny and cynical collection of tweets from the NHL's most alcoholic-beverage-sounding name.

 

Logan Couture

Twitter Handle: @Logancouture

Followers: 132,901

Couture, playing in only his third career NHL season, has quickly grown to Twitter fame with his consistent and regular activity.

He chimes in on a number of other sports besides hockey throughout the year.

 

Mike Commodore

Twitter Handle: @Commie22

Followers: 51,680

Commodore may not be much of a player, but he does have a Stanley Cup ring and definitely keeps his 50,000-plus followers laughing every non-game night.

Take, for example, this Verizon customer service spiel:

 

Paul Bissonnette

Twitter Handle: @BizNasty2point0

Followers: 400,894

The king of NHL tweeters.

Without question.

He's not afraid of both dissing his own less-than-notable hockey career—or any number of far more successful players.

 

Ryan O'Reilly

Twitter Handle: @Ryan_O'Reilly90

Followers: 17,983

O'Reilly isn't blowing it away on the follower count—he's not much of a joker—but the young and controversial scorer can still offer an interesting glimpse into the average NHL player's mind.

When his contract saga and offer sheet waiting period ended, O'Reilly was very open in tweeting about the entire situation.

He's also something of a hashtag maniac.

 

Ryan Whitney

Twitter Handle: @ryanwhitney6

Followers: 107,117

The Oilers defenseman doesn't tweet personally all that often, but he's unrestrained, sarcastic and quite comical when he does.

 

Ryan Jones

Twitter Handle: @jonesry28

Followers: 80,197

The Edmonton Oilers are a team of tweeters, without doubt.

In addition to the aforementioned Whitney and the still-to-come Taylor Hall (see below), shaggy winger Ryan Jones is good for plenty of laughs and—if you happen to be the subject of his tweets—a few embarrassing blushes.

 

Taylor Hall

Twitter Handle: @hallsy04

Followers: 248,013

Hall is both the Oilers' stat-sheet and Twitter-follower-count leader with almost a quarter million.

His exchanges with Jones and a plethora of less-than-supportive fans are usually unforgettable.

 

Mark Jones has been a Bleacher Report featured columnist since 2009, receiving almost a million views on his 450-plus articles to date. 

Visit his profile to read more, or follow him on Twitter.