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Let's be honest, Bruins fans have every reason to feel all kinds of indifferent feelings towards a team that plays 3,000 miles away. On the surface, it would be easy to point to the whole Hollywood bandwagon aspect, as seen above. If Tom Cruise wants to pretend to be a hockey fan, who cares? It wouldn't be the most far fetched performance of his career. But if you dig deep and look close, there's at least two major reasons to shout a big "screw you" across the country.
One of the main reasons to hate the Los Angeles Kings is they're basically the Philadelphia Flyers West. Even though the bitter taste of 2010 was (or should have been, at least) erased in 2011, Boston fans need not be reminded of the fact that Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and yes even Dan Carcillo (ptooey) were members of the team that pulled off the infamous 3-0 series comeback. You know, the one that never fails to rear its ugly head when the Bruins are in the playoffs. Case in point: it was being brought up during last year's series against the Maple Leafs when the Bruins couldn't close the deal until Game 7 (+) after going up 3-1.
(And speaking of the Leafs, the Kings now have Matt Frattin and Ben Scrivens on their roster, which ups the Los Angeles hate factor based on recent playoff history.)
Mike Richards deserves a load of hate from Bruins fans for this hit alone:
That's not something that can be brushed aside, no matter what team you play for.
But all that aside, the biggest reason to hate the Kings is without question Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky, of course, was shipped off to Los Angeles 25 years ago this summer. Those of us who live North of the border were subjected to two separate five-part series on the deal (*barfs*), which is infuriating enough as it is. (Oh hey, did you know Gretzky was babysitting Robin Thicke when he first heard about the trade?) And as the story goes, The Great One went on to make quite an impact in the southern States, which brings us to why Bruins fans should hate the Kings in the year 2013.
Because of Wayne Gretzky and the popularity of the Kings during that era, the Bruins now play in a division that features teams from places called Sunrise and Tampa Bay, and they have league-manufactured "rivalries" with hockey teams called Panthers and Lightning. Yes, this is actually a thing in today's NHL. In fact, the Bruins will play more games against the Florida Panthers (5) than the Montreal Canadiens (4) and Toronto Maple Leafs (4) in 2013-14, which is all kinds of insane.
On top of that, the Bruins remain without their closest geographical rivals in the Hartford Whalers, who shipped off to Carolina in this supposed and Gretzky / Kings inspired southern hockey boom. For this, I directly blame and therefore (kind of, sort of, jokingly) loathe the Los Angeles Kings.
I wish the Los Angeles Kings nothing but the worst this season, and hope Tim Thomas makes a miraculous comeback to steal Team USA's #1 goalie spot away from Jonathan Quick.