If you ask most Los Angeles Kings fans who their biggest rival is today, many would probably point you to either the Southern California division rival Anaheim Ducks or the Vegas Golden Knights. Some could even consider the Edmonton Oilers the biggest playoff foe right now due to the four consecutive postseason meetings.
But if we're talking about a true division and geographic rival, not just the team standing in the Kings' way today, the answer should probably still be the San Jose Sharks.
In the last few decades, the Kings and Sharks have had many memorabl postseason battles and consequential regular season games in the Pacific Division. The rivalry between the Kings and Sharks really taps into the Northern California vs. Southern California battle on the West Coast.
The Los Angeles Kings and Sharks built one of the NHL's best rivalries
The Kings and Sharks have squared off in the playoffs four separate times in the history of the two franchises, with each of the postseason matchups coming in the 2010s. Highlighted by the 2014 matchup in the playoffs between the Kings and Sharks, these two teams had some remarkable and truly wild results in the postseason over the last decade. These two teams have evenly split the four postseason battles, with a record of 2-2 each.
Long before Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Oilers became the Kings' biggest postseason roadblock, Los Angeles and San Jose battled for years for Pacific Division supremacy. The proximity and passionate fan bases between the two teams and repeated playoff battles helped to create one of the league's premier West Coast rivalries.
En route to winning the Stanley Cup Finals in the 2014 postseason, the Kings pulled off a historic series victory after falling behind 3-0 against San Jose in a reverse sweep. That historic reverse sweep became one of the true defining moments in the history of the Kings' franchise.
It also became one of the most infamous playoff collapses in Sharks franchise history, which further cemented the emotional stakes between the two teams.
Recent success doesn't erase decades of history
In recent years, Edmonton has become the Kings' biggest postseason obstacle, while the Golden Knights and Ducks each have regional rivalries and have been challengers in the Pacific Division in the last several seasons. Granted, Anaheim's success came about more recently in the last year or so in the Pacific Division.
Like the rivalries that the Los Angeles Dodgers have in the MLB with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants, the rivalries survive even when some teams are going through a rebuilding process.
Going into the future, the rivalry between the Kings and Sharks looks to be on the rise again. The young core the Sharks have built, including young superstar Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Michael Misa, should keep San Jose competitive consistently again in the Pacific Division for years to come.
Rivalries in the NHL aren't solely defined by which team is winning today. They're built through years and years of memorable games, playoff battles, geographic proximity, and a dislike between the fan bases. That's why, despite the recent Sharks rebuild, San Jose is still the Kings' biggest rival in the Pacific Division.
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