Senators Take Drastic Step to Prevent Maple Leafs Fans from Buying Playoff Tickets

As the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs creep up on fans, they are going to be fighting tooth and nail to get themselves the best seats possible in order to cheer on their team as they head towards their journey to lifting Lord Stanley's Cup.

Toronto and Ottawa are going to meet in the first round, and with a Battle of Ontario expected to create a lot of hype and excitement, it's certainly going to have a wild atmosphere filled with fans of both sides.

Or will it?

According to sources, the Ottawa Senators are offering playoff tickets for the first round with the purchase of season's tickets, which is nothing new.

But the way they are vetting who exactly buys them shows they don't really want any opposing fans taking up space.

It's a bit of a snarky tactic from the Senators, and while they don't want to have a lot of outside factors trying to chance the atmosphere of the Canadian Tire Centre, they will still need to contend with those fans in Ottawa who are fans of both teams, but slightly favor the Leafs but live in the Nation's capital.

Section 115 level seating would cost roughly $9,200 CAD for season's tickets, and that includes immediate playoff access. While there is no price right now set for the first game of Round One, it's expected a premium seat will go into the $1,500-2,000 range easily.

It's not the first time that Toronto has dealt with a team trying to prevent fans from cheering them on.

The Florida Panthers did the same thing during the 2022-23 season for the second round, as it's clear they did not want the snowbirds or any vacationers to take up space and cheer on the opposition.

Vancouver also suffered the same fate as they faced off against Nashville, so there seems to big a consistent precedent that teams are trying to block fans as much as possible in order to try and create an advantageous atmosphere.

Don't expect the Maple Leafs to do the same, not because they are trying to gain an advantage (they already have a lot of those) but simply because it's just going to be way too expensive anyways.

Besides, the majority of premium tickets are already accounted for, so it's a quick first come first serve and it's going to be Toronto fans who pick up the rest.

So you might not see as much blue and white in Ottawa as we anticipated, however don't count out that the Maple Leafs are going to have tons of support anyways.