Many Los Angeles Kings fans would pick the Edmonton Oilers as the franchise's biggest rival in the Pacific Division.
Even with the emergence/re-emergence of the Kings' Pacific Division rivalries with the likes of the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Vegas Golden Knights, there is still something so bitter and intense about LA's rivalry with the Oilers.
While the Kings have developed strong rivalries with the Ducks, Sharks, and Golden Knights, there isn't another matchup that has generated more intensity in recent years than Los Angeles and Edmonton. After matching up in the first round of the playoffs in four straight years from 2022-2025, the Oilers have become the Kings' biggest postseason hurdle. And many Oilers stars have become fan favorites to root against.
The biggest villains in the Los Angeles Kings-Oilers rivalry
But to say that this is only a modern rivalry discounts the years and even decades that the Kings and Oilers battled on the ice in the days of the old Smythe Division and Clarence Campbell Conference in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Here are three Oilers players who Kings fans love to hate in the rivalry between these two historic Pacific Division foes.
Wayne Gretzky, C
It's quite the way to start off this list to have the Great One as the first Oilers player listed among the candidates in this rivalry that Kings fans love to hate on the ice. Legendary Oilers center Wayne Gretzky was the face of this rivalry between Edmonton and Los Angeles for the better part of a decade in the 1980s.
Before Gretzky became the face of hockey in Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was the player that Kings fans dreaded seeing more than anyone. As the centerpiece of the Oilers franchise and dynasty in the 1980s, Gretzky routinely torched the Kings in the regular season and the playoffs, making him the biggest villain in the rivalry before his blockbuster trade to LA changed everything.
Gretzky and the Oilers dominated the Kings in the postseason in a five-game series win in 1987. He also lit up the scoreboard against the Kings in the matchups between Los Angeles and Edmonton in the regular season, scoring nearly 60 goals and 170 points in 63 games.
Gretzky won't be the only player on this list who was hated by Kings fans at one time and then eventually played for Los Angeles for multiple years later in his career.
On the flip side of the coin, there are some middle-aged and younger Kings fans who mostly only remember the good times that Gretzky had in Los Angeles. Gretzky had eight really productive All-Star seasons with the Kings, and he was really the one who lifted the franchise into relevance in the NHL in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s.
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