The 2020-21 NHL season is set to get underway on January 13th, and as we now know, it will feature an all-Canadian division. With teams only playing regular season games within their division, Canadian teams will play each other a nine to ten times during the shortened 56-game season. The first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be division based, so if any of the Canadian playoff series go to seven game, there's a chance two teams will play each other a maximum of 17 times.
An advantage of seeing the same matchups over and over will be that rivalries that will either be formed, or reignited. One of those rivalries that was reignited, especially last year was the Battle of Alberta that centered around Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, and Oilers forward Zack Kassian.
"How great will that be for hockey?" Tkachuk asked Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "Those games get a lot of traction. Even people who don't know much about hockey have come up to me a lot and asked about our games against Edmonton. I can't believe how many people in St. Louis I ran into wanted to talk about it. That's the first thing they always ask me about - what those games are like to play in," he added.
"The Battle of Alberta has officially gone outside this province - not only in Canada but the rest of the U.S. The common thing they say is it's must-watch TV."
Tkachuk, 23, was drafted in the first round, sixth overall by the Calgary Flames in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. In 293 regular season games, he's recorded 235 points (94 G, 141 A), 302 penalty minutes, and is a +22. In 15 career playoff games, he's tallied 5 points (3 G, 2 A), 32 penalty minutes, and is a -5.
Tkachuk says more Battles of Alberta will be great for hockey https://t.co/xsMcH0RAOJ pic.twitter.com/gnnJ4I6ta2— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) December 21, 2020
