Best Rivalry in the NHL??

[dfb547490]

Well?

[Khansingh]

You need to have a moderator edit your poll to read "Rangers-Islanders" in favor of "Bruins-Rangers." While all New York and Boston teams are natural rivals, Bruins-Rangers isn't all that heated. But I give you credit for listing Bruins-Canadiens.

[Michael K.]

It's hard to argue Rangers-Devils currently, when the Rangers have one something like 1 of the last 25 games between the two. On the other hand, it has to be said that the Devils have never beaten the Rangers in a playoff series. Then again, the Rangers haven't made the playoffs in this millenium.

[Jeff]

Good choice, though many in Denver will telll you that Vancouver is nearly as big of a rival of the Avs as Detroit is nowadays. Same division, last year's #3 seed chase (which cost the Avs dearly IMHO), and Marc Crawford being in Vancouver. However, while intense and hard fought, Avs-Canucks games have never broken out if FFA brawls like Detroit.

Ironically, the Wings and Avs have played close to 30 straight regular season and playoff games without any fighting majors.

Bruins-Rangers ceased to be a hardcore rivalry after the Bruins vs. MSG fans incident in something like 79 IHMO. I don't ever remember a really rough "rivalry" game between the two (I'm 29 FWIW).

Hopefully, having 6 games within your division will help spark some rivalries. The league needs it.

Canada-based fans help me out: thoughts on Flames-Oilers. The Battle of Alberta used to be awesome, what's it like now. Unless you have CBC, you don't get these games like you did in the 80s stateside.

[Daniel from Montréal]

Battle of Alberta is still pretty intense. Big game for both teams.

The trouble with Habs-Leafs is that there's always way more Leafs fans in Montréal than Habs fans in TO. But, hey, 24 Cups and 36 years are the only relevant numbers ;).

Battle of Ontario is shaping up nicely.

In the 80's and 90's, Québec-Montréal was a bloody, amazing rivalry. Too bad money rules the game.

Isles-NYR definitely should be in there, with that Santa fight! Where else would something like that happen???

[DevilDave]

If you are talking about the quality of players and teams as a key factor (in addition to the obvious - teams and fans not liking each other) then I would say, that Avs-Wings is still holding up as the huge rivalry in the NHL.

IMO the Battle of Ontario and Devils-Flyers comes second and third respectively.

[Canadian_Supporter]

Ottawa - Toronto

There is no one team I hate more then Toronto. It doesn't help that my dad is a Leafs fan. :mad:

[whirlwind]

Originally posted by DevilDave
If you are talking about the quality of players and teams as a key factor (in addition to the obvious - teams and fans not liking each other) then I would say, that Avs-Wings is still holding up as the huge rivalry in the NHL.

IMO the Battle of Ontario and Devils-Flyers comes second and third respectively.

An Avs-Wings game has probably the highest number of future Hall of Famers in it, and it's a great rivalry, and we in Detroit still hate the Avs, but with Claude Lemieux and Patrick Roy gone, it's not the same.

There's still a lot of respect, though.

[SABuffalo786]

Buffalo-Toron..........awww, forget it. :rolleyes:

[WLU_Mike]

Originally posted by SABuffalo786
Buffalo-Toron..........awww, forget it. :rolleyes:

I enjoyed that last meeting between these two... Nice to see there's four more this season.

[LUVURONIE]

"My" Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres

[afgrijselijkheid]

there are too many good rivalries in the NHL to list them all - the biggest are probably montreal-boston and chicago-detroit because they go back the farthest

some good ones:
isles-rangers
BLUES-red wings
BLUES-blackhawks
edmonton-calgary
colorado-detroit
dallas-detroit
LA-san jose
phoenix-dallas
colorado-dallas
philly-pittsburgh
toronto-buffalo
vancouver-LA
pittsburgh-rangers
flyers-rangers
washington-pittsburgh
ottawa-toronto
montreal-philly

we could go on all day...

[SABuffalo786]

Originally posted by LUVURONIE
"My" Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres


Really? I've never considered the Habs much of a rival.

[SABuffalo786]

Originally posted by LUVURONIE
"My" Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres


Really? I've never considered the Habs much of a rival.

[Daniel from Montréal]

The only Habs rivals worth mentioning:

- Leafs















- Boston (renewed especially after we beat them in the playoffs in 2002 after that Mclaren hit)
- Ottawa, but they're more like the kid brothers, plus they also hate TO and have a certain Francophone following in Gatineau.

Buffalo, Philly, whoever else, blah.

[DoyleG]

Originally posted by Jeff
Canada-based fans help me out: thoughts on Flames-Oilers. The Battle of Alberta used to be awesome, what's it like now. Unless you have CBC, you don't get these games like you did in the 80s stateside.

Who doesn't enjoy a good old-fashoned brawl. Especially when they go at it before the puck hits the ice.

[the_baron]

In 'Bruce Almighty' it mentioned that the Sabres and Leafs are fierce rivals.

I Fancy the Sabres! Coach Prays a lot!

[Quakes11]

How could all of you leave out the Tampa Bay Lightning / Anaheim Mighty Ducks matchup....
a classic.

While maybe not the best rivalry I think the matchup that has produced some absolutely GREAT games in the last couple years is St Louis / Vancouver.

[hobbes]

Realignment has taken a lot of the sting out of the great rivalries - Islanders/Rangers and Canadiens/Bruins aren't what they used to be when I was a kid. Teams just don't meet in the playoffs year after year like they used to. You could bank on Montreal playing either Boston or Quebec pretty much every year in the Norris playoffs and it would be a great series.

The best rivalries I've seen were Oilers/Flames, Canadiens/Nordiques and Red Wings/Avs when they were hot. Oilers/Flames will always be good because those cities just don't like each other and they both take their hockey really, really seriously. Same reason Yankess/Red Sox will always be a good baseball rivalry.

I think the Leafs/Sens might be the best rivalry going right now, if they meet in the playoffs again it could be a classic. Vancouver's getting going with Minny and St. Louis and I guess Colorado, no geography, but if they met in the playoffs again this year it would be a cracker. Vancouver's kind of an unlikeable team.

A lot of the ones listed are good rivalries, but it seems like it really takes a playoff series to pick it up a notch. If say the Flyers and Rangers met two years in a row, I'm sure their rivalry would be off the charts.

cheers,
hobbes

[SoccerFan8270]

The Rangers-Flyers rivalry is a really big one.