Chicago Blackhawks: All-Time Rivalry Mount Rushmore

The Chicago Blackhawks have had some serious rivals during their time in the NHL. Some of the rivals the Blackhawks smoked, some they were even with, and some smoked them.

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks are a rivalry that will never end, no matter which conference the two teams are in. As it’s died down during the past few seasons, the two times these two meet up each year is fun.

The Blackhawks truly had the last laugh, as they came back from a 3-1 deficit in the 2013 playoffs to win a Game 7, in the Red Wings’ last game as a Western Conference team. It was a great, dramatic, physical series, which saw some old-time hockey between the two.

In the regular season, the Red Wings have the series lead, with a  369–271–84–15 record, which will probably never be broken, as they play just twice a year. It would take a long time, which even then, might never happen.

The Blackhawks are in the lead for 43 playoff wins to 38 against each other. They also have the lead for most wins in a row, which was 13 against the Red Wings. Two of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup wins have come against the Red Wings. They haven’t lost a Stanley Cup series against them in league history.

Another historic these two teams have in common is they played in the first winter classic game ever, against each other in 2009. That game didn’t go Chicago’s way, but it’s cool to see these bitter rivals make history together.

These two teams never have and never will get along. Overall, Detroit is Chicago’s biggest rival, but unless the NHL pairs them in the same division again, they’ll stay as distant rivals, instead of head-on rivals.

St. Louis Blues

The Blackhawks and Blues have played against each other in tight playoff series, winter classic games, and much, much more. The Blackhawks and Blues’ rivalry has heated up more since the Red Wings left the Central Division in 2014.

These two teams have most recently played in the playoffs twice in the last decade, with the Blackhawks leading the record at 7-6, with both teams winning one series. In 2014, the Blues took a 2-0 series lead in Round 1 of the playoffs to Chicago, where they’d lose four straight. The Blackhawks went on to lose to the Kings in the Western Conference Finals that year, but it re-sparked the rivalry we speak of today.

Until 2014, the Blues and Blackhawks didn’t matchup in meaningful hockey since 2002. The Blues won that series 4-1. The two teams wouldn’t truly heat up a rivalry until both teams got good at the same time (the mid-2010s) and matched in the 2014 playoffs. In 2015, these two teams almost re-matched, before the Blues lost in their Round 1 series against the Wild.

Overall, the Blackhawks are leading the all-time series against the Blues 187–149–35–11, with them also having the lead in the playoffs 35-28.

These two teams are just getting started, as they had close games this season, where the Blues came from behind in the third period to shock the Blackhawks. Hopefully, these two will meet again in the 2020 NHL playoffs, if there is a 24-team playoff race.

Right now, St. Louis is the Blackhawks’ biggest rival but all-time has to go to Detroit.

Vancouver Canucks

I don’t care what anyone says here, the Canucks are a very dirty team when they play the Blackhawks. The 1995 series where the Blackhawks swept them caused a stir for their fans. The same thing happened when Chicago beat them in the 2009 and 2010 playoffs.

The 2009 and 2010 playoff series’ between the two saw many dirty hits, a ton of fights, a Jonathan Toews–Ryan Kesler rivalry that I’m a fan of, and much more. These two teams truly started their beef towards the end of the 2009 season, where they were fighting for home ice.

There was a huge brawl that happened in Chicago, and these two teams kept the fire up in the playoffs. It was more than a game between the two teams as things got personal real quick. The two would exchange verbal jabs, would disrespect the other in press-conferences, and would be ready to drop the gloves any time they saw each other.

Can you imagine if Twitter was big back in 2009-2011, the number of negative tweets towards each other would make them look like Conor McGregor’s verbal assaults on Khabib Nurmagomedov and the rest of the lightweight division.

Anyone who wants to say this rivalry is over hasn’t seen them play as of late. Their meetings this season were aggressive, as both teams on the cusp of being playoff teams again. We might see this rivalry re-ignite in the 2020s.

It’ll be interesting to see the younger players, who are active on Twitter, and what they may say during these meetings. It’ll be nice if the Blackhawks could run through them one more time in the playoffs, as I cannot personally stand their fans.

One bracket of a 24-team playoff race showed Chicago matching up against Vancouver in the first round, best of five, another showed the Oilers. If the Blackhawks matchup with the Canucks in round one, I’m ready for this rivalry to heat up again.