It feels like the Detroit Red Wings haven't had a good rival in decades.
Sure, they had the Pittsburgh Penguins to contend with in the late 2000s. They've got a few not-so-friendly faces to contend with in today's day, as well. But, as far as actual, legitimate rivalries go, there really isn't enough bad blood to justify a serious rivalry for the modern day Red Wings.
The Red Wings and Ottawa Senators have beef here and there, but the Senators are fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Other conference rivals like the Montreal Canadiens are lightyears ahead of the Red Wings in terms of team outlook.
The closest thing they have to a rivalry is the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But, at this point, is it even a rivalry?
Why the Red Wings and Lightning are (or were) rivals
The rivalry (or whatever you'd like to call it) started over a decade ago. At this point in time, the Red Wings made the playoffs for the 25th straight year. The Lightning, on the other hand, were a young, upstart team at the start of their playoff window.
Did the spark that started the fire come from Justin Abdelkader's fight, or did Nicklas Kronwall's hit on Nikita Kucherov get things going?
The answer is up to interpretation, but, since then, there's been no love lost between the Lightning and Red Wings. Tensions never quite cooled as the years passed. Blowout wins, heartbreaking losses and near-constant fights seemed to be the norm during confrontations with Tampa.
Soon-to-be-former captain Dylan Larkin's fight against Mathieu Joseph threw gas on the proverbial fire, turning the next few confrontations into slugfests.
Despite the frenzy that seems to overtake both teams whenever they face off against each other, there's one major reason the Red Wings and Lightning don't have a traditional rivalry:
Lightning have seen success while Red Wings have floundered
A rivalry needs one of two things to work: historic precedence or a back-and-forth duel.
The Red Wings and Lightning's "rivalry" essentially boils down to a single playoff series and a home opener fight. Since that playoff series in 2015, the Lightning have gone on to win two Stanley Cups, appearing in four Stanley Cup Finals since the Kronwall hit. The Red Wings, on the other hand, have yet to make the playoffs again.
By the time the Red Wings are ready to contend for the playoffs, the Lightning's core will doubtless be too old to make another run. Thus, the "rivalry" dies as it lived: with one side finding success while the other digs in for a long rebuild.
Whether the Red Wings ever have a true rivalry again will ultimately depend on how the future core for Detroit and their potential rivals face off against each other.
Knowing the history of the Red Wings, it'll need to be nothing short of physical.
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