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From The Athletic.

Where does Gritty rank among NHL mascots? Ask a mascot-obsessed 6-year-old: https://theathletic.com/555994/2018/...ed-6-year-old/

My​ Dad Guilt​ kicked in, as​ it​ usually does,​ on the​ third​ day of​ the​ road trip. This was​ day​ three​​ of 12, so the deadbeat-dad thing felt heavier than usual. I was in Columbus for the 2015 NHL All-Star Game, wandering through the merchandise area in search of a dumb (read: cheap) souvenir for my daughter, who was about seven weeks shy of her third birthday.

A 2-year-old has no need for a puck, she was too little to build a Lego Stanley Cup, and she was too big for a bib. Even little jerseys cost a fortune and refrigerator magnets aren’t very exciting. Then I found it: NHL Mascots & Friends, a colorful children’s book introducing all of the league’s mascots. Sometimes it rhymed, sometimes it didn’t, which to this day I still find confusing, but no matter. It was perfect. Little did I know it would trigger an undying love of giant, silent, dead-eyed furballs in my daughter, and eventually send me on a two-year, cross-continent journey to buy her a stuffed animal of each mascot, each one procured from its native arena for authenticity’s sake.

Howler from the Coyotes is her favourite. Harvey is 12th.

Confirmed, young children don't like Hunter (he came in 28th of 30 -- only the Devil and Gritty were lower):

28. Hunter, Edmonton Oilers: I don’t have a Hunter doll yet because they don’t make them. He’s a bobcat, I think? He looks like a kitty cat, but I think he’s kind of scary.