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Toronto Maple Leafs: The Real, the Fake and the Upcoming Rivalries

By David Corcoran

TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 12: Radko Gudas #7 and Aleksander Barkov #16 of the Florida Panthers battle against John Tavares #91 and Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during Game Five of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 12, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 12: Radko Gudas #7 and Aleksander Barkov #16 of the Florida Panthers battle against John Tavares #91 and Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during Game Five of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 12, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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HAMILTON, ONTARIO – MARCH 13: Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres fight during the Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field on March 13, 2022 in Hamilton, Ontario. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
HAMILTON, ONTARIO – MARCH 13: Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres fight during the Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field on March 13, 2022 in Hamilton, Ontario. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

Buffalo Sabres (Up and Coming Rivalry)

If there is a team that may keep the Ottawa and Toronto rivalry from heating up, it would be the Buffalo Sabres.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres have been in the same division since the 1998-99 season at which point the two met each other in the Eastern Conference Finals where the Sabres took the series 4-1.

The rivalry earned the nicknamed the “Battle of QEW”, however there has not been much of fight between the two teams ever since then.

There has been small incidences that have enticed fans whether it was four career goal scorer Andrew Peters mocking the Toronto Maple Leafs with their season ending or Auston Matthews earning a suspension for cross checking Rasmus Dahlin, this could turn into one of the better rivalries in the league.

The Sabres, to be blunt, are finally going to be good.  Outside of maybe the Arizona Coyotes, they  have been the worst run organization in the NHL over the last quarter century.

Despite obtaining three first overall picks and ten Top-10 picks since 2013 the Buffalo Sabres have been unable to make the playoffs since 2011 and have not won a playoff series since 2007.

This century, the team from Buffalo has made the playoffs just six times total in 24 years.

However, they finally have a good team and by good team, they have a really good team.

They have arguably two top ten defensemen in the league in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.  Dahlin will likely be a Norris Trophy candidate every year for the next decade and Power may contend a few times against him.

The Sabres missed the playoffs by one point in 2022-23 and are prime to take another jump forward.  Buffalo could realistically get into the top three in the Atlantic Division which leads to a very good chance the Leafs and Sabres could face each other over the next few seasons in the playoffs.

These two teams are prime to get a heated rivalry going.

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