The Winter Classic has been the NHL's signature outdoor event since 2008, when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres played through picturesque snow and launched an institution.
The game between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild scheduled for Target Field on Jan. 1, 2022, will be the 13th edition of the Winter Classic. The event has grown and changed through the years -- a wider variety of teams, grander aesthetics, an occasional appearance by Weezer -- and each Winter Classic has had its singular virtues.
Here's a subjective ranking of the Classics and their relative greatness.