The Blue Jackets have been a mere flutter in the wind over most of their 25 season existence in the NHL. With mostly downs and very few ups, we got to wondering: do they even have a real rivalry with another team?
Usually, for a rivalry to happen, you need two teams that have a reason to play and hate one another. For the most part, the Blue Jackets have never really challenged for anything meaningful, aside from one fluky first round sweep of a stunned Tampa Bay Lightning team.
Other than that one flash in the pan (and a playoff bubble play-in series win the next year), the Jackets have very little bragging rights. It's hard to manufacture hate when the other team perpetually walks all over you.
Still, throughout their existence, there have been some loud environments at Nationwide Arena, even if the "rivalry" was often one-sided. I suppose it just depends on the era. Lets look at it from that perspective.
The 2000s-era brought on the hated Detroit Red Wings.
When Columbus first came into the NHL, there were two geographical teams that we could immediately point to as potential future rivals. As an example, growing up as a hockey fan in Central Ohio-I gravitated towards the Pittsburgh Penguins for NHL hockey throughout the 90s.
Yes, I still hate myself for it.
For many other fans of the sport, however: it was the Detroit Red Wings. They were smack in the middle of their biggest run of success from the mid-90s through the early 2010s. For their first 13 years in the league, the Blue Jackets were "lucky" enough to play in the Central Division of the Western Conference.
As a result, those Red Wings became their prime target as they hoped to ascend to the top of the standings. Ultimately, that never happened.
The Blue Jackets were horribly managed, never putting together a team worthy of making any real noise. Meanwhile, the Red Wings were loaded with talent, winning two Stanley Cups; and finishing as the runner-up in another year.
The only time the plucky Jackets gave them any reason to respond to our hatred, was in the first round of the 2009 playoffs-a series won by Detroit, without ever trailing in any game.
As loud as Nationwide Arena could be when the Wings were in town, this was always a one-sided rivalry. The fans in Detroit couldn't care less about their little brothers from Columbus.
The 2010s made us hate anything Yinzer related.
Good news: the Blue Jackets did eventually find their way in the 2010s. Under much improved leadership, they were able to piece together five postseason trips in a seven year span-including four straight from 2016-17 through 2019-20.
Bad news: in three of those postseason visits, they were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup Champions. One of which was the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins, who also eliminated the Jackets in the first round one other time, back in 2014.
On both occasions, I thought the guys in Union Blue gave the team from over Yinz all they could handle. That 2014 series was memorable because it brought some of the best moments in CBJ history to the forefront, including their first postseason win at home.
The 2017 series was memorable because we bore witness to one of the worst calls in modern NHL history, which allowed Pittsburgh to tie game 3 late in the second period.
Still, as memorable as these games were from a Columbus perspective; they are just footnotes in the history of the Penguins. The dirty birds have won three Stanley Cups in the Sidney Crosby era, while the Blue Jackets have never been more than a stepping stone on their path to history.
Like the fans in Detroit, the fans in Pittsburgh look at the 5th Line and wonder who we even are.
The 2020s have been quiet.
In their last six seasons, the Jackets have not made any real noise against any opponent. The only hate we can really point to may be against the Calgary Flames, who they only play twice a year.
At the moment, it doesn't feel like the Blue Jackets have a rival. Not even from a 5th Line perspective. Sure, there is hate for the Red Wings, the Penguins, heck, even the Tampa Bay Lightning. But, that's all one sided, and it often varies from person to person.
For that to change, our team needs to be good for a change. Then, maybe we'll get the attention of a jealous foe and a rivalry will brew. That feels like the last step this team needs to take before they can really "arrive" in the NHL.
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