Sharks Gameday: Cheering for the Bad Guys

My 28th-favorite video game...

is Dungeon Keeper! This was an awesome game in which you played an evil overlord managing a dungeon and killing invading heroes. It was the first game I ever played which really gave you the experience of playing as the bad guy. That leads me to today's topic...

Instinctively, without thinking about it rationally, which hockey teams do you identify as "good guys" and which are "bad guys"? Is your team the only one that feels like they are heroes, or are there others? Is your view of the NHL one of a single heroic team facing off against 29 villains, or are there teams that feel "good" and teams that feel "bad" to you?

I went through all 30 teams and, as quickly as I could, put them into either the "good guys" or "bad guys" category. Here is my list:

Anaheim Ducks - Bad guys
Boston Bruins - Bad guys
Buffalo Sabres - Good guys
Calgary Flames - Good guys
Carolina Hurricanes - Good guys
Chicago Blackhawks - Bad guys
Colorado Avalanche - Bad guys
Columbus Blue Jackets - Bad guys
Dallas Stars - Bad guys
Detroit Red Wings - Good guys
Edmonton Oilers - Bad guys
Florida Panthers - Good guys
Los Angeles Kings - Bad guys
Minnesota Wild - Bad guys
Montreal Canadiens - Bad guys
Nashville Predators - Good guys
New Jersey Devils - Good guys
New York Islanders - Good guys
New York Rangers - Good guys
Ottawa Senators - Good guys
Philadelphia Flyers - Bad guys
Phoenix Coyotes - Bad guys
Pittsburgh Penguins - Good guys
San Jose Sharks - Good guys
St. Louis Blues - Bad guys
Tampa Bay Lightning - Good guys
Toronto Maple Leafs - Good guys
Vancouver Canucks - Bad guys
Washington Capitals - Good guys
Winnipeg Jets - Good guys

I think my results are both surprising and not-that-surprising. I actually seem to be pretty generous in terms of teams I identify as heroic (only 13 villain teams in the league!) and there are surprising inclusions in the Good guy category (the Flames are just too pathetic for me too see them as villains, for example). Then again, basically every team that has recently beaten the Sharks in the playoffs feels like a bunch of bad guys, which is pretty much what you would expect.

How about you kind folks out there? What does your list look like?

Prediction: Two admirable squads of gentlemen go out there and try the best they can, but the Sharks win because they are way way way way better.