I grew up outside Toronto (Detroit can call itself Hockey Town but Toronto is the real Hockey Town) where there was 2 seasons — hockey season and street hockey season when the snow melts. Hockey is on 4-5 nights of the week on free TV and on cable (CBC free and TSN on cable, plus Radio Canada — French CBC) from October to April. Excellent commentators who speak to a knowledgeable audience.
Leafs fans are like Chicago Cubs fans. Very loyal, very critical and always hopeful. Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 — the last year of the original 6, before expansion to 12 teams that year. Even though the Blue Jays have had good seasons and won the World Series back to back in ‘92 and ‘93 and probably would have had a shot in the strike-shortened ‘94, baseball fans in Toronto would mostly tell you they are hockey fans if prioritizing, then baseball, then football or another sport.
I have watched very little hockey lately especially since my local teams are out of the playoffs (Devils and Rangers). I am sure I would watch more hockey if ESPN still had NHL coverage. Bettman needs to rethink his TV strategy and maybe cut back on the money-losing teams like Phoenix and focus on getting the biggest audience possible for hockey games and playoffs.
You guys still can't have Rick Nash ;-) (Toronto sports media taunt us Blue Jackets fans about picking him up at the end of his contract.)