Hockey season has only just begun, but we’re ready to call it: The NHL’s schedule makers are our early-season MVPs.
There’s no shortage of early-season storylines to start 2019-20 on an intriguing note: The Maple Leafs and Canadiens rarely disappoint when they get together and they’ll do so for the first time this Saturday in a classic Hockey Night in Canada showdown; Quinn Hughes and the Canucks will face off against his little brother Jack (maybe you’ve heard of him?) in New Jersey on Oct. 19; and the Flames and Jets will take it outside in Oct. 26’s Heritage Classic at Mosaic Stadium, the first outdoor game of the season.
This year’s hockey drama is well spread out, of course, and we’ll have to wait a little longer for some other highly anticipated matchups, including the first Battle of Alberta (it’s not until Dec. 27) and the Lightning’s return to Columbus (Feb. 10) to avenge their embarrassing first-round exit.
But for hockey fans ready for some drama right out of the gates, the schedule’s got some pretty great grudge matches to satisfy our cravings for some good old emotional hockey showdowns. Here are five early-season grudge matches we’re especially excited to see in October.
Colorado Avalanche vs. Calgary Flames
2019-20 meetings: Oct. 3 @ COL | Nov. 19 @ CGY | Dec. 9 @ COL
After finishing the 2018-19 season with a West-best 107 points, the Flames were favoured for a long playoff run last spring but their 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the first round was the only win they’d get, thanks to a red-hot Avalanche team that stopped them in their tracks. The Flames, who had gone 3-0 against Colorado in the regular season and finished 17 points ahead of them in the standings, went on to lose the next four games, falling victim to the same fate as the other four division leaders in what was a particularly parity-filled post-season.
No better way to start a redemption campaign than against the very club responsible for your demise, right? The Flames certainly think so.
“That’s a great place to start the season and kick it off,” Flames forward Sean Monahan told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis ahead of Thursday’s season-opener in Colorado. “There’s obviously history there with the playoffs. They’re a good team and they’ll put us on pace to get the season started. They’ve got speed, skill and quality defencemen, so that’s one we’re looking forward to.”
Only this time, the U.S. component of Hockey’s Rocky Mountain rivalry has some pretty hefty expectations of its own. No longer considered the underdog, Colorado’s rapid rebuild has them penciled in as a top contender this year with increased scoring depth to support one of hockey’s best lines (Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen) and a rookie rearguard already topping most ballots for this year’s Calder (Cale Makar).
Another interesting wrinkle to this one: Nazem Kadri, a big part of Colorado’s new-found offensive depth, will make his Avalanche debut after nixing a trade to Calgary. If you’ll recall, the former Maple Leaf explained that decision to veto the trade during an episode of 31 Thoughts: The Podcast back in July:
“So what happened is they had a deal in place and they wanted me to move my no-trade clause,” Kadri told co-hosts Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek. “But you know, obviously, for me, it was no disrespect to Calgary or the Flames organization. I love their team and I love the direction they’re headed. I just figured that had I declined, I would have had a better opportunity of being a Maple Leaf next year and that’s really what it came down to. I wanted to play for the Leafs next year. I wanted to be a part of that. In declining that trade I had aspirations of being a Leaf and we know clearly that didn’t happen.”
Vegas Golden Knights vs. San Jose Sharks
2019-20 meetings: Oct. 2 @ VGK | Oct. 4 @ SJ | Nov. 21 @ VGK
It didn’t take long for hockey’s newest team to get itself entrenched in the game’s greatest rivalry. Last spring’s trash-talk-filled first-round series between the Golden Knights and Sharks featured no shortage of bad blood between the two clubs, and ended about as dramatically as possible: a controversial major penalty call, four power-play goals in four minutes and an overtime win for San Jose to rob Vegas of what had looked like a sure series victory.
The league wasted no time in pitting these two heavyweights together this season, scheduling the clubs for a home-and-home to open 2019-20.
Vegas won the first game by a score of 4-1, and we have no doubt the Sharks will come out swinging on Friday night. We can’t wait.
The trash talk is alive and well, thanks to the league’s best chirper, Ryan Reaves. (His favourite target, Evander Kane, is currently serving a three-game suspension, missing these matchups.)
"Poor Evander. So tragic."
We're still extremely here for the Evander Kane–Ryan Reaves rivalry.
(: @RossDiMattei)pic.twitter.com/Z0G8aSxdUk
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 2, 2019
Fans got in on it, too. This guy’s game is already in mid-season form:
Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
2019-20 meetings: Oct. 3 @ CAR | Dec. 19 @ CAR | Feb. 29 @ MTL
OK, maybe this isn’t quite a grudge match but it’s kind of fitting that the two teams at the centre of one the most dramatic days of the off-season should face off against one another to start the season.
Back on July 1, Hurricanes RFA Sebastian Aho was on the receiving end of a rare offer sheet from the Canadiens. The Hurricanes matched, of course, locking up their young star for the next five seasons. Carolina is coming off a thrilling post-season run and now the ‘bunch of jerks’ that won over the hearts of a lot of hockey fans look to build on that — starting with the team that attempted to pry away one of its brightest young stars.
Is this a bigger narrative for us media folks and hockey fans than those who were actually involved? Yeah, sure — Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said exactly that ahead of the game, via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels — but it’s still an intriguing storyline that adds another dimension to what should be a fun, fast-paced season opener for a pair of promising Eastern Conference clubs.
St. Louis Blues vs. Boston Bruins
2019-20 meetings: Oct. 26 @ BOS | Apr. 2 @ STL
The stakes don’t get any higher than the when the Stanley Cup is up for grabs, making this Cup Final rematch between the Blues and Bruins the ultimate grudge match.
The Blues sent a message to the league that they’re ready to repeat, bringing in (and locking up) star defenceman Justin Faulk just prior to the season while the Bruins bring back a strong roster boasting much of the same depth and firepower that got them to the Final last spring.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins
2019-20 meetings: Oct. 19 @ TOR | Oct. 22 @ BOS | Nov. 15 @ TOR
Speaking of the Bruins… there might not be a fanbase with a bigger grudge against Boston than the one in Toronto. The Bruins have ousted the Maple Leafs from the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back years, with both series going all the way to seven games. (There, uh, was also that loss in 2013.) Last year’s Leafs loss stung a little extra, considering the lofty expectations on Toronto to take the next step in the playoffs after officially emerging from its rebuild, and the fact that they could’ve closed out the series in Game 6 but failed to finish the job.
Fans will be treated to two games between the clubs in the span of just four days, giving little time for cooler heads to prevail after their first matchup.
With the amount of parity in this league, it’s tough to predict anything in the NHL these days — except for one thing: a Leafs-Bruins playoff series. It seems only natural for these two teams to already be on a collision course to a third consecutive playoff matchup this spring, doesn’t it?
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