The Toronto Maple Leafs should hate former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and vice versa, if the Battle of Ontario was ever a big enough rivalry, says Ken Campbell.
Perhaps it's because he's Swedish and it's been scientifically proven impossible to hate Swedish people. The passage of time probably has something to do with it as well.
But when Daniel Alfredsson gets hired as an associate coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it means people either have really short memories, or the so-called rivalry between the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators was more hype than swipe.
People in Toronto should hate Alfredsson. But they don't because he was never able to beat them. Ever.
Alfredsson should hate the Leafs, but he doesn't because, as previously mentioned, Swedes are so-well liked because they can't bring themselves to hate anybody, either.
It should come as no surprise that the two captains during the early days of the Battle of Ontario were Mats Sundin and Alfredsson. More than a quarter of a century later, we're learning that this was never really a rivalry at all.
Watch the video column above for more about what a rivalry is supposed to be.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
