Biggest celebrity fans for all 16 Stanley Cup playoff teams
In honor of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, we’ve identified a starting lineup of celebrity fans for all 16 NHL teams in the postseason.
Here is how they stack up.
Atlantic Division
The roster: Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Conor McGregor, Bill Burr
This is easily the funniest collection of celebrity fans, which is no surprise given Boston’s legendary stand-up scene.
Carell is one of the better hockey players on this list. The Massachusetts native played at several levels and confirmed his rooting interests during the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Speaking of “The Office,” Krasinski enlisted David Denman (who played Roy on the show) to troll co-star Jenna Fischer in a video from Game 7 of that year.
Massachusetts native Burr tweets about the Bruins regularly.
Congratulations to the Boston Bruins! 65-12-5!!!! Incredible season! Unfortunately, I missed most of it watching gecko’s garage. #BillyBandwagon #GoBruins!
— Bill Burr (@billburr) April 14, 2023
McGregor, one of the most famous MMA fighters, visited the Bruins locker room and dropped the puck at a game in 2019. That’s good enough, at the least, to be the enforcer on this squad.
The roster: Justin Bieber, Drake, Will Arnett, Mike Myers, Chris Hadfield
The Leafs have no shortage of celebrity fans. They also have the high-end edge on this list, with Bieber and Drake, two of the most famous human beings on the planet. Bieber has released tributes to the Leafs. Drake was once visited by Mats Sundin at one of his concerts in Stockholm.
Myers is one of the longest celebrity Leafs fans, naming characters in “Austin Powers” after former Leafs Doug Gilmour and Nikolai Borschevsky. “The Love Guru” includes the Leafs in the plot of the film.
Toronto native Arnett also makes the starting five because he’s hilarious and “Arrested Development” still rules.
Finally, we have astronaut Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space. He also dropped the puck at a Leafs game from space, perhaps the biggest flex in recorded history.
The roster: Dick Vitale, Hulk Hogan, Charles Barkley, Stephen King
One commonality among Lightning celeb fans is their positive reactions to Lightning coach Jon Cooper. Cooper has been shouted out by Barkley and Dickie V.
We’re not sure how King became a Lightning fan, but he flew his flag in a reply to actor Kim Coates’ tweet. As for the Hulkster, he’s been an icon on the Tampa sports scene for quite a while and displays his Lightning fandom proudly.
Metropolitan Division
The roster: Stephen Colbert, Petey Pablo, John Isner, Evander Holyfield
Former heavyweight boxing champion Holyfield makes the list because of this incredible Storm Surge:
North Carolina, come on and raise up! Pablo has to be included, thanks to his anthem being the goal song.
Tennis pro Isner makes the list as a fan and as one-time tennis coach for Martin Necas and Teuvo Teravainen. And Isner knows about multiple overtime sporting events, having participated in an 11-hour match at Wimbledon.
Colbert is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Not only did he celebrate on “The Daily Show” when the Canes last won the Cup in 2006, but he had Canes emergency goalie David Ayres make an appearance on “The Late Show.”
The roster: Kevin Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Warburton, Edge, Jay Weinberg
Smith is a natural fit since he regularly fashions hockey jerseys and loves to rep his Devils (including a Devils section at his Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash comic store in Red Bank, New Jersey, a must visit).
Wrestler Edge is an interesting one — he certainly reps his Leafs, having grown up outside of Toronto. However, he fell in love with the game, and goaltenders in particular, watching Chico Resch play for the Devils. He’s attended games repping the red, black and white, so he definitely makes the cut.
Warburton will forever be connected with “Puddy” from “Seinfeld” (“gotta support the team!”). It would be a miss if we don’t get Puddy drinking from the Stanley Cup if Jersey wins. O’Neal was born in Newark and certainly doesn’t hide his love for the Devils. Weinberg of Slipknot rounds out the list, bringing the head-nodding, heart-pounding beats.
The roster: Margot Robbie, Liam Neeson, Tim Robbins, Eli Manning
The Rangers also have no shortage of celebrity fans — my personal favorites are Rick Moranis and Michael J. Fox — but the ones listed above are regulars to MSG and often seen on the JumboTron cheering the team. Liam Neeson even reenacted his famous scene from “Taken” for the team.
East wild cards
The roster: Kevin Connolly, Ralph Macchio, Chloë Grace Moretz, Billy Joel
Connolly has done plenty with the Isles, from making a pick at the NHL draft to making an ESPN 30 for 30 film on John Spano’s infamous efforts to buy the team. He was the easiest pick on this list.
Long Island native Macchio — star of “Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai” — has been spotted at Isles games and had an Isles bobblehead in his honor.
Fellow screen star Chloë Grace Moretz is also frequently spotted at games rocking an Isles jersey. She also trolled Caps fans on social media.
Open net never works caps..
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) April 16, 2015
Despite his famed sellout streak at Madison Square Garden, Joel is a Long Island native and has been around for the team’s big moments, including the announcement of UBS Arena and postseason games at the Coliseum. He also has had a bobblehead night dedicated to him.
The roster: Ariana Grande, Josh Gad, Lexi Thompson, Tua Tagovailoa
Grande has one of the best celebrity hockey origin stories. Well before she became a megastar, she rode the Zamboni as a kid at a Panthers game. She also has the dubious honor of being the first person struck by a puck in the stands at the Panthers arena. Her fandom didn’t waver, though.
Star of the stage and screen — and, importantly for a sport played on ice, the voice of “Olaf” in the “Frozen” movies — Gad is a South Florida native and counts the Panthers among his favorite teams.
One of the team’s newer celeb fans is Miami Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa, who celebrated his birthday with the Panthers. Sticking in the realm of athletes, LPGA tour member Thompson has also attended Panthers games.
Central Division
The roster: John Elway, Larry Walker, Trey Parker
We’ve got some great former Colorado athletes on this list, including Broncos legend Elway, who has golfed with Avs GM Joe Sakic and wished the team well on social media. Baseball Hall of Famer and Rockies legend Walker once served as the Avs’ honorary emergency goaltender.
Perhaps the most passionate celebrity Avs fan is “South Park” co-creator Parker, who has featured the Avs in the series.
The roster: Pantera
Members of the group Pantera might be some of the best celebrity fans of any NHL team — their goal song, specifically written for the Stars, has endured for decades. The team also partied with Pantera after the 1999 Stanley Cup win.
The roster: Richard Dean Anderson, the Hanson brothers, Prince, Nick Swardson
We start with the original “MacGyver” himself, Anderson. MacGyver can solve any problem, with seemingly any objects at his disposal; that sounds like a useful trait in a hockey player. Anderson is also renowned as a ringer in celebrity hockey games.
Next up are the Hanson brothers, from the greatest hockey movie of all time, “Slap Shot.” The Carlson brothers, who portrayed Steve and Jeff Hanson, are from Minnesota, while the third brother, David Hanson, is from Cumberland, Wisconsin.
Prince makes the list posthumously, as he deserves to be on any rundown of famous Minnesotans.
Another famous Minnesotan is comedian Swardson, who has been vociferous on social media about his fandom.
Pacific Division
The roster: Bryce Harper, Lil’ Jon, Wayne Newton, Gordon Ramsay, Daniel Negreanu
There’s no shortage of celebrities in Vegas. But it starts with Philadelphia Phillies star Harper, a Vegas native and huge Golden Knights fan.
Then there’s Lil’ Jon, who has served as hype man at T-Mobile Arena, as has Newton. The pair even performed a collaboration for the Golden Knights, which is the most random but most Vegas thing in recent memory:
Ramsay has joined Lil’ Jon at VGK games, donning the Golden Knights threads, so we’ll include him here too.
Then there is Toronto native Negreanu, one of the greatest poker players and a Golden Knights season-ticket holder. He is a die-hard hockey fan and been vocal about having a team in Vegas long before the Golden Knights arrived.
The roster: Jordan Buhat, Brett Kissel, Todd McFarlane, Kurt Browning, Kevin Smith
Buhat is an actor on the show “Grown-ish,” a spinoff of the show “Black-ish.” He is an Edmonton native and a die-hard Oilers fan.
Famed comic book writer McFarlane, who worked on “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Spawn,” among many other projects, once owned part of the Oilers, despite being a Calgary native.
Country singer and Alberta native Kissel had a famous moment when a faulty mic turned into a memorable anthem rendition by a packed house of Oilers fans.
We’ll also include Browning, who was one of Canada’s more prominent figure skaters. He was an honorary captain when the NHL appointed celebrity captaincies in 1991.
The roster: Taylor Swift, Will Ferrell, Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron, Channing Tatum
Of course, L.A. is going to have the most star power. Swift alone would have dominated this whole thing, but add Ferrell, perhaps the most vocal of the bunch, along with Snoop, who hilariously has done Kings commentary, Tatum, who’s been sighted at games, and Efron, and you have a starting five fit for Hollywood.
West wild cards
The roster: Chris Jericho, Doc Walker, Fred Penner, Neil Young, Burton Cummings
The obvious choice here is Jericho, who grew up in Winnipeg. His father, Ted Irvine, played in the NHL mostly for the Rangers, later skating for the Kings during their first three seasons in the NHL. Jericho is an avid Jets fan and this video of him doing hockey highlights (including his dad fighting Bobby Orr) is definitely worth a watch.
The Jets celebrity fan group includes people whom Canadians would know pretty well:
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Country music group Walker, who once wrote a parody song cutting up the Nashville Predators
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Children’s show star Penner, who every Canadian who grew up in the 1980s knows extremely well
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Singer and Winnipeg native Cummings
The legendary Young has deep roots in Winnipeg, particularly early in his career, which definitely qualifies him for this group … as does this video of him welcoming the Jets back to Winnipeg.
The roster: Sue Bird, Macklemore, Marshawn Lynch, Rainn Wilson
A strong group for the young Kraken. They’ve got Bird, one of the best athletes of her generation; Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” and rapper Macklemore and Seahawks legend Lynch, who are both part-owners of the team.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.
Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.
“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”
Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”
He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.
“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”
While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.
Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.
Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.
Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.
“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”
Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.
“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.
“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”
As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.
“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
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Eli Lederman
USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.
Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.
Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).
The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.
Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.
Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.
Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.
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