Drew Doughty makes a surprise pick for the Battle of Alberta.

Doughty picks a winner.

Jonathan Larrivee
Jonathan Larrivee
Published 1 year ago
Drew Doughty makes a surprise pick for the Battle of Alberta.

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs has officially wrapped up and although we now wave goodbye to 8 of this year's Stanley Cup hopefuls, we also get to look forward to the exciting matchups we will see in the second round of the tournament.

At or near the top of the list for many hockey fans will be the Battle of Alberta that will be contested between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames, 2 teams that have been rivals for a very long time and 2 teams that many expect to see go to war over the course of their 7 game series. 

Among those who appear interested in the upcoming series is Los Angeles Kings star defenseman Drew Doughty who was recently asked to share his thoughts on the upcoming clash between the Flames and the Oilers. Speaking with Los Angeles Kings insider John Hoven, Doughty revealed that he will be picking the Flames to win this series, something of a surprising choice as far as I am concerned.

Now to be fair here Doughty is picking the team that most have coming into this series as the favorite, but given the fact that the Oilers just triumphed over the Kings in the first round I could have seen Doughty picking the Oilers purely as a point of pride. Not only that, but Doughty also has quite the personal history with the Calgary Flames given his incredible personal rivalry with Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk.

Tkachuk and Doughty have butted heads for years at this point, but it would seem that his personal dislike of Tkachuk won't be a factor in his decision when it comes to picking a winner in this series. In fact it may even be the case that Doughty's respect for one of his most bitter rivals is playing a role in his decision to pick the Flames over the Oilers in this series.

If you're not familiar with the rivalry I'm referring to here, Youtuber The Best Of Hockey did a great job of compiling some of the best moments of the rivalry between Doughty and Tkachuk.

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