Opinion Piece: Which Team In The Atlantic Do I Hate The Most?

April 20, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) skates before playing against the Philadelphia Flyers in game five of the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals at CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

It’s been really tough to write about the NHL lockout and since there is no news to report right now, I’ve decided to write something a bit different.

This is an opinion piece and I’m sure you all have your own opinion as to which team in the Atlantic division you hate the most but this is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree with my choice and reasoning. My choice as of today is the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Probably most Rangers fans would say they hate the New Jersey Devils the most right now and with good reason. I mean they just knocked the Rangers outta the freaking playoffs not too long ago. The semi-old timer fans would probably say the Islanders. Luckily for me I didn’t have to endure chants of 1940, but today the Islanders and Rangers rivalry has been pretty much dormant. Sure the die hards love to see the two go at it, but this rivalry hasn’t been truly relevant in the grand scheme of things for a while. Then there’s the people who say Philly. I’m a Giants fan and I hate the Eagles, but if I was forced to root for a team in the Atlantic it would be the Flyers. They have culture and post expansion history. Yeah I hate them, but there’s a mutual respect between the two teams.

Then there’s the Penguins. I just hate everything about them. I wasn’t around when Mario Lemieux was drafted, but it just annoys me to know that he shouldn’t have ended up a Penguin because the team tanked for him. I personally think Mario is easily top 3 all time in terms of greatest forwards ever, but he shouldn’t have been a Penguin. He actually should’ve been a New Jersey Devil.

I also hate how the 2005 NHL draft ended up. The Rangers had just as much of a chance to draft Sidney Crosby as the Penguins with a 6.3% chance of drawing first. The Sabres and Blue Jackets also had the same odds. It isn’t so much that the Rangers didn’t win the first overall selection it’s the fact they were basically cheated out of a high pick. See, instead of going down the list over the last few seasons to determine who should’ve fairly been given the high picks the league chose the teams at random. Maybe this is more on the league than the Penguins, but still it annoys me the Penguins ended up with Crosby.

The way the Penguins lucked out is also amazing. The traded up from the 2nd overall pick in 03′ to get Marc-Andre Fleury. They get Evgeni Malkin 2nd overall in 04′. They get Crosby in 05′ first overall. Then to top it all off they get another 2nd overall pick and snag Jordan Staal. Granted their drafting since then has been pretty weak, but still I hate how they got all these high picks and lucked out in the players panning out to be great players.

A few other reasons why I hate the Penguins:

• I hate Pittsburgh as a city.
• Some fans of there’s I’ve met over the years are band wagoners. Yeah, every team has band wagoners when they do well but it was pretty blatant after they drafted Crosby they got a chunk of new fans.
• They have a Penguin on skates as their logo. In their alternate uniforms it even sports a scarf.
• Everyone always picks them to win the Stanley Cup.

Whatever. That was just me ranting to let off some steam. Feel free to leave in the comments which team you hate the most.

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