The (un)Official NHL Barbenheimer Pairings: Top Duos Around the League
So many different components can equal a solid duo—in friendship, in food, in the movies, and in the NHL.
Sometimes two things are decent enough on their own, but unlock another level of each other when combined, like pineapple on pizza. (Just kidding, unless you're into that. You do you.)
Sometimes there's magic in familiarity. Chemistry blossoms and what you get is breathtaking.
And sometimes—only sometimes—two things are so massive in their own right, yet so inherently different, that they can just exist alongside in their own greatness as we appreciate the juxtaposition. This is true of two movies that came out July 21 and have been putting up numbers we haven't seen in years, reviving interest in the box office: Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Barbie has made nearly $775 million globally while Oppenheimer has pulled in $400 million.
The cultural phenomenon (and the memes) in the dead of the offseason had me wondering—who is the Barbie and Oppenheimer in terms of pairings and combinations?
And hey, look, Oppenheimer has a hockey connection. Notorious pest Sean Avery is in the movie!
(For those looking for serious analysis, we'll get back to that soon enough. This is meant to have a little fun as we all wait for an Erik Karlsson trade. Speaking of, can the Hurricanes or Penguins hurry up and make the deal already?)
The criteria for the list is this: one player takes on the lighter-hearted components of Barbie while the more serious teammate is Oppenheimer.
With that in mind, here are the pairings along with the astrology-sign analysis that helped facilitate our choices.
Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider
1 of 5
Round 1, Game 6 against the Devils last season, and who kept the Rangers alive in win-or-go-home fashion? Mike Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, of course. Although the team ultimately lost the round in seven, no Rangers stars showed up for the series like Zibanejad and Kreider, who combined for five points in that 5-2 Game 6 win.
They've got that sort of chemistry on and off the ice as they're approaching their eighth season playing together on the Rangers. Their joint leadership, consistency and longevity have absolutely been pivotal factors in New York's rebuild moving along so quickly.
You can tell in clips like this how much respect they have for each other:
And whether it's cause or effect, it's no coincidence Kreider, 32, has been extremely productive alongside his bestie.
Zibanejad is definitely the Barbie of this friendship. Not only is he a bubbly Aries, but he's also a legitimately excellent DJ in his downtime. I'd give him the aux at the Mojo Dojo Casa House.
Kreider is a classic Taurus—extremely protective of Zibanejad, a brilliant multi-lingual student and a hard worker. We'll give him the more serious Oppenheimer title.
Verdict: Zibanejad gets tabbed as the Barbie in this case, with Kreider being the Oppenheimer.
Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman
2 of 5
Much has changed for the Bruins this offseason, but it looks like the goalie tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will stay put. Lovers of hockey bromances rejoice, because perhaps none was better or more wholesome than the teamwork of these two, who ended every win with a huge hug throughout the Bruins' historic regular season.
Not only did the two grow to become besties off the ice, but it's incredibly rare to see an egoless tandem with two goalies who are both so good.
At the end of the regular season, Vezina Trophy winner Ullmark ended up with a .938 save percentage and a 1.89 goals-against average through 49 games. Swayman ended with a .920 save percentage and a 2.27 GAA through 37 games. As much as the cap-strapped Bruins have had to sacrifice this offseason, the return of this tandem gives hope that they won't fall off too hard.
Happy 30th birthday to Ullmark, who is a Leo and sure dresses like it.
Meanwhile, Swayman is a Sagittarius. Both of these fun-loving signs like attention, which would explain the whole goalie thing. But Sagittarius in particular is a team player, so it makes sense Swayman left his ego at home and this beautiful friendship and tandem has flourished.
So with that in mind, we're going to give the Barbie designation to both goalies. They're so well-matched in terms of personality and you can't really give these guys the Oppenheimer tag when they're so happy for each other.
Verdict: Double the Barbie for this one.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen
3 of 5
Everyone knows how good the 2022 Stanley Cup-winning combination of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen is, and yet this duo somehow still feels underrated.
The pairing has never been more important now that captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss the entire 2023-24 season, and as unfortunate as that is, you just know these two will rise to the challenge.
Finding out MacKinnon is a Virgo made total sense. Virgos are particular, hardworking, reliable, stubborn and a little uptight. They definitely eat chickpea pasta and judge you a little bit if you don't. Does that ring a bell about a certain franchise player for the Avs?
Rantanen is a Scorpio, a sign just as serious and hardworking, and extremely trustworthy.
This is one of the few signs a Virgo will let into his inner circle, so it makes sense that this duo feels "underrated" and just quietly works hard despite winning a Cup and being so consistent. They aren't flashy, and they definitely don't hang out at the Mojo Dojo Casa House.
Verdict: The flip slide of our last comparison, we have two Oppenheimers.
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Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (with Jake Guentzel as Ken)
4 of 5
Yes, yes. We know that this is supposed to involve just two players.
But Ken matters, too, and anywhere else Jake Guentzel would be a 10.
As iconic as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been as a one-two punch for almost two decades, Guentzel's impact and the workload taken off the storied duo gets left out too often.
He's hovered around a point per game for the past five seasons, and yes, playing on Crosby's wing never hurts. But anyone who has watched Guentzel snipe knows this is a mutually beneficial situation, and he deserves his flowers as well.
In any event, it's a joy to watch these three cook together for as long as Crosby and Malkin decide to play. We're blessed to get yet another season of this trio, and despite their narrow miss of the playoffs last year, you can't sleep on this core—especially if Erik Karlsson joins the mix.
It's so fitting that both Crosby and Malkin are Leos, while Guentzel is a Libra. Leos don't crave the spotlight, they just command it, while Libras are extremely cooperative and easy-going folks.
Verdict: Crosby is Oppenheimer for his seriousness and attention to detail, Malkin is Barbie for his hilarious one-liners and Guentzel is Ken.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl
5 of 5
We've arrived at the most obvious contemporary NHL duo: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. What is left to say about the two who routinely score more than 100 points per season? Any combination of them works, whether coach Jay Woodcroft strategizes to pull them apart or put them together to tweak his matchup game. They are simply both going to score at least 100 points per season, and there's absolutely nothing anyone else can do about it.
As long as these two are still on the team, the Oilers have a chance to win the Cup. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, it seems like the team around them is actually starting to figure that out.
On the surface, McDavid and Draisaitl might look like another Barbie and Ken situation. But this is actually a true Barbie and Oppenheimer phenomenon, where the two shine independently of each other and combine for some solar-eclipsey greatness. You've got the workaholic, ambitious, disciplined Capricorn in McDavid and the equally disciplined but slightly more brooding Scorpio in Draisaitl.
Verdict: This is the toughest call of the bunch, but with McDavid as the face of the NHL, we're giving him Barbie, and Draisaitl's intensity gives him Oppenheimer.
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