Well as a Rangers fan the Atlantic is painfully obvious. They're all special in their own way.
Outside of the division I'll say the Sabres. I don't like Buffalo. I don't wanna flame, or start a pissing match and end up with an infraction, so I'm not getting into details. I have my reasons, let's just leave it at that.
+ Minnesota - Games between us and the Wild are so intense. Lots of fights and bad blood; they clearly don't like each other. Stewart also I think had some incidents with them from his Colorado days so he can keep that going. Both teams play a physical game and they are just fun to watch. Hopefully Minnesota can get put in our division soon because then it would really take off.
I think those are our 4 rivals. I don't really have much of a dislike for Nashville personally. Everyone dislikes Vancouver but they aren't really our rival.
Amen. Really hope they get the old Norris division back together!
Vanny. Games are always heated, and Vanny is always a dangerous rival. That being said, neither side respects each other. Divisional rivalry.
Eddy. Another divisional rivalry and two relatively young teams with deep prospect pools... and boy, the youngsters do not like each other. We're seeing already in AHL that physical play is not exactly avoided, resulting in ugly hits and unnecessary injuries. Actually, this is very close to the rivalry with Vanny.
HM: Blues. As BlueDream mentioned, the games have been intense. Lots of physical play from both sides, close results and some bad blood between the players yet the fans seem to respect each other better than in divisional rivalries, which is always a good thing. Well, at least they can write Minnesota properly. We're not a Disney mouse.
Vanny. Games are always heated, and Vanny is always a dangerous rival. That being said, neither side respects each other. Divisional rivalry.
Eddy. Another divisional rivalry and two relatively young teams with deep prospect pools... and boy, the youngsters do not like each other. We're seeing already in AHL that physical play is not exactly avoided, resulting in ugly hits and unnecessary injuries. Actually, this is very close to the rivalry with Vanny.
HM: Blues. As BlueDream mentioned, the games have been intense. Lots of physical play from both sides, close results and some bad blood between the players yet the fans seem to respect each other better than in divisional rivalries, which is always a good thing. Well, at least they can write Minnesota properly. We're not a Disney mouse.
Oiler fans have always found it humourous that Minny fans hate being called Minny.
So upset that they called everyone Vanny, Eddy, etc
For the Devils aside from the Rangers, and Flyers, definitely the Hurricanes. It's really only a playoff rivalry, and we haven't had too many exciting games against them since the 09 playoffs.
We had a good one with Ottawa going. We played them three time between 98, 03, and 07. One first round matchup, one ECF, and a second round matchup. We went 1-2 against them only winning the 03 ECF. Not to mention the one time we missed the playoffs between 91, and 10 we were eliminated by them, by losing the last game of the regular season in 96. One year after winning the Cup.
Had a short, but heated one with Toronto. Played them two straight years in the second round in 00, and 01 on the way to the SCF. Tie Domi had that elbow on Niedermayer in 01. Almost every game the season after, things were ugly when we played them.
Flyers, Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia will always be the top rivalry by a large margin
After that it varies depending on recent events and how good certain teams are
Rangers - long time division foe, also some real dislike between players and coaches
Caps - Surprised to see 2 other people dismiss this rivalry. Obviously Malkin and Sid vs Ovy is what's hyped now, but these teams have had bad blood since the 90's.
NJ - Seem to always have our number, even though Brodeur hasn't historically played his best against us. Their backups seem to dominate us, however, and Fleury usually plays terrible against them, too.
Isles - This one has potential to grow based on the recent brawl and Isles should start to become a divisional threat
One that I think has good potential depending on how re-alignment shakes out is Columbus. Even though we only play them 1-2 times a year the games always seem to be chippy and intense and Western PA and Ohio have good rivalries in other sports (Steelers and Browns/Bengals and Pirates vs Reds)
If we play the Devils again in the next playoffs, I can see something start to brew. Although, for me personally, I really enjoyed watching them play against them last season in the 1st round.
IDK, even though that was a really hard fought and close playoff series, your fans were just really cool and the team really respectable...I think at one point on the Series thread we started mixing up lines to create a super Panther Devils team and basically being really friendly...after winning game 7 the 'good series' compliments didnt even have a hint of schadenfreude.
Flyers, Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia will always be the top rivalry by a large margin
After that it varies depending on recent events and how good certain teams are
Rangers - long time division foe, also some real dislike between players and coaches
Caps - Surprised to see 2 other people dismiss this rivalry. Obviously Malkin and Sid vs Ovy is what's hyped now, but these teams have had bad blood since the 90's.
NJ - Seem to always have our number, even though Brodeur hasn't historically played his best against us. Their backups seem to dominate us, however, and Fleury usually plays terrible against them, too.
Isles - This one has potential to grow based on the recent brawl and Isles should start to become a divisional threat
One that I think has good potential depending on how re-alignment shakes out is Columbus. Even though we only play them 1-2 times a year the games always seem to be chippy and intense and Western PA and Ohio have good rivalries in other sports (Steelers and Browns/Bengals and Pirates vs Reds)
Nobody is dismissing the rivalry, just that it's not like the the old days.
1. They're not in the same division anymore.
2. They don't play enough games to mustard up the rivalry full force.
Now if you would line up two sets of home and home games maybe it'll mustard up the rivalry, but not icing two more games to get it to six they'll come and go and I'll just be like on ward. Hell, Even the Crosby, Malkin & Ovechkin rivalry has distanced off.
IDK, even though that was a really hard fought and close playoff series, your fans were just really cool and the team really respectable...I think at one point on the Series thread we started mixing up lines to create a super Panther Devils team and basically being really friendly...after winning game 7 the 'good series' compliments didnt even have a hint of schadenfreude.
The brewing dislike was more player based than within either fan base.
A few of the Devils players even admitted that they'd play harder for DeBoer when facing his former team.
The fans have no real reason to hate each other right now, unless a rivalry actually takes off.
Although, I know a Panthers fan up here that's pissed that the Devils have shown them the door twice in a row. But that type of grudge is hard to build when there are so many years in between those matchups.
We used to be rivals with Dallas when there were still former North Stars playing in the league, and I could say Anaheim to some extent after they eliminated us twice.
Last edited by Kris Chreider: 11-28-2012 at 12:56 AM.
IDK, even though that was a really hard fought and close playoff series, your fans were just really cool and the team really respectable...I think at one point on the Series thread we started mixing up lines to create a super Panther Devils team and basically being really friendly...after winning game 7 the 'good series' compliments didnt even have a hint of schadenfreude.
Maybe just for the DeBoer factor of it, but yeah it would probably take more than another series to get a rivalry going. Personally, I think DeBoer is an excellent coach. Just not the right one for a young group like the Panthers had in the past.
As far as the Devils fans on here go, you guys were awesomely respectful and a decent amount of Panthers fans, including myself were rooting for you guys the rest of the way. I've never had much of a problem with Devils fans down here at the games either. I guess both fanbases are similar in the fact that they get criticized a lot for being small market and non-traditional teams, so we feel each others pain
fan
Aww, we hate you too!! 
, the Conference Finals really heated things up.
to some extent
