I know consider the Ottawa-Montreal as big as any other of their rivalry. Probably bigger. The biggest reason is because of their close proximity to one another. Ottawa is just two hours away from Montreal & Ottawa is right across the river from the city of Gatineau. When the habs are in town many fans from nearby Gatineau & from Montreal flock to Kanata to attend their games which is why it almost feels like a home game for them. And both teams are now fairly even & both of them having been to the playoffs in years. Both are also contending for the final wildcard spot in the upcoming playoffs.
As for Toronto & Ottawa their rivalry is as big as Toronto’s so-called rivalries with Montreal & Boston. The media has always made a big thing about the Battle of Ontario & this season the fact Ottawa is much better than it has been in past years makes it more legit. Maybe i’m wrong but i no longer consider Toronto/Montreal as much of a rivalry anymore. The Leafs have been among the best teams in the league for years & the habs among the worse. The Leafs are always expected to win in the games they face one another. I think the nostalgic fans are the ones who are keeping the rivalry alive more than anything plus the teams barely fave one another anymore. As a fan of the Leafs i can assure you that they have a bigger rivalry with the likes of Boston & Ottawa more than with Montreal. The games are still fun to watch though because it’s a reminder of how these two teams once throughly hated one another 60+ years ago. But when they sent Toronto to the Norris division & kept the habs in the Adams division it created new rivalries. The Leafs became die-hard rivals of the likes of Chicago, Detroit & St-Louis while Montreal continued their rivalry against Boston while becoming intense rivals with the Nordiques, probably one of the most intense rivalries in all sports.
