Hockey rivalries have been around since the NHL was founded 1917. The Pittsburgh Penguins have had rivals since they joined the league in 1967 with the six-team expansion. Among the trash talk, bitter battles and playoff competition, the following teams can be considered the Penguins’ fiercest rivals of the Sidney Crosby era. Washington Capitals Step
Rivalries
Nearly four years ago, I wrote an article for The Hockey Writers on the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens rivalry not being what it used to be. That came after a 3-2 overtime win by the Habs on Jan. 14, 2019, in their 746th regular-season matchup. I find myself in a similar situation today: the
The competition between Michigan and Ohio runs deep. The rivalry is largely personified through matchups in college sports between Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. As such, every meeting between the Buckeyes and Wolverines ends up being can’t-miss entertainment. Until now, in hockey, there hasn’t ever really been an iteration of that rivalry
Geography is the big divider for NHL teams ever since the 1980s. Rivalries form in the east and west where teams in their conferences see each other far more than in the other. Teams play within their conferences throughout the entire playoffs until the Stanley Cup Final, where the conference champions meet up for a
The two biggest rivals of the Colorado Avalanche are arguably the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Wild. It’s been hard for Avalanche fans to get as riled up about facing those teams, as Colorado’s trajectory is going in the opposite direction of both those franchises. The Avalanche are one of the favorites to win
Happy New Year, Blackhawks fans! While we hope you enjoyed health, progress, and success through 2020, there’s no denying that we’re all looking forward to a fresh start when the calendar flips to 2021. Speaking of which, as the NHL prepares to kick off its upcoming season on Jan. 13, the Chicago Blackhawks are facing
The rivalry between Chicago and Detroit is one that appears in every major sport. The Lions don’t like the Bears. The Bulls and the Pistons have had some infamous playoff meetings. Whether you’re a Cubs or White Sox fan, you’re probably not a fan of the Tigers. And, of course, the Red Wings and Blackhawks
The shortened 2019-20 season and the unique format of the playoffs due to COVID-19 showed financial issues for all of the NHL’s 31 teams. Forbes recently ranked the Los Angeles Kings as the sixth most valuable NHL team, as one of only two teams that ranked within the Original Six. Even outside of COVID-19 related
With the 2020-21 season ahead of us, we will miss seeing some long-standing matchups, as play will be restricted to within the four new divisions. Some notable streaks that will end this season include the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins (who have played every season since the Bruins entered the league in 1924), as well
The strange happenings of 2020 will continue in 2021, as the NHL has adopted a new regular season schedule for the first season to begin during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020-21 season will feature a strictly divisional schedule including double and triple-headers, and as a consequence, a whole lot of bad blood. This should be
The ’12 Days of Christmas’ is a classic holiday song first published in its current form in 1908. In a nod to the classic carol, join The Hockey Writers as we count down the 12 Days of Hockeymas. Each day, we will provide you with a piece of hockey history as we eagerly await the start of the
Sports rivalries are a reason to circle your calendar, cancel plans and tune in to see who earns bragging rights, makes history and in many cases, gains playoff positioning. But not all rivalries are within their division or conference, which means that the rarity of these matchups makes them even more exciting. In the NBA,
The Los Angeles Kings joined the NHL in the 1967-68 season. A hockey team that has been around for over half a century is bound to have some intense rivalries, and the Kings are no exception to this. Although they don’t have any rivalries on the scale of the Boston Bruins versus Montreal Canadiens, they
The Colorado Avalanche. The Chicago Blackhawks. The Toronto Maple Leafs. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins. What do these teams have in common? At one point or another, they were considered rivals of the Detroit Red Wings. The list is not limited to those four teams; an Original Six franchise like the Red Wings has a storied
A once dormant and seemingly ‘rival-less’ rivalry has now found itself new life following this last month of moves. Both the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils have re-tooled themselves and are ready to go to war once again. Although both teams sat at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division last season, they are