B/R NHL Roundtable: Teams with the Most Pressure Heading into the 2023 Playoffs
The 2023 NHL playoffs are nearly upon us, hockey fans.
Every shift will be scrutinized to the nth degree as 16 teams give their all to lift the Stanley Cup in June.
But some clubs will have more riding on this postseason than others. For example, the romping Boston Bruins will head into the playoffs as heavy favorites. But will a stacked Eastern Conference and the pressure of such a successful regular season make them crumble?
The Toronto Maple Leafs' struggles in the playoffs have been well documented. Will they finally get past the first round, or will the weight of expectations from North America's most hockey-obsessed city cause them to fold yet again?
The B/R NHL staff came together to look at those teams and more, breaking down the squads that will be under the most pressure once the playoffs begin.
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Boston Bruins
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Does anyone else find Presidents' Trophy discourse exhausting?
Yes, there have been several cases recently of the winningest regular-season team blowing it in the playoffs, including the Florida Panthers in 2021-22. Sure, "only" eight of the recipients have won the Stanley Cup since the trophy was first awarded in 1985-86. And, of course, the last team to win the Cup and the trophy in the same year was 2012-13 Chicago.
But aren't the Stanley Cup playoffs heralded as the most exciting professional sports postseason because of their parity? Isn't the whole point that the Cup is the hardest trophy to win?
The B's are +380 to win the Cup and +200 to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. But claiming that being the favorite is a "curse" is a lazy exaggeration. Regardless, there is a ton of pressure on Presidents' Trophy winners to reverse the "curse."
The Bruins have acknowledged this throughout their historic regular-season run, with mentions here and there that it's all about the playoffs and their job isn't yet done. It's wild to think a team that had few to no expectations to even surpass the first round heading into the season will be disappointed if it doesn't win the Cup.
But aside from that Presidents' Trophy pressure, this feels like perhaps the last crack for the remaining core from 2011—Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand—to do it again together. The old and new are colliding at the perfect time for Boston, and there's urgency not to waste a special season.
—Sara Civian
Carolina Hurricanes
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When it comes to high-pressure hockey markets, one of the last places you'd imagine would have stress out the wazoo is Raleigh, North Carolina. There's decent weather (at least during hockey season) and a supremely good team to keep dedicated fans pleased.
But there is a lot of pressure on the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup.
Carolina is headed to the playoffs for the fifth straight season and second straight campaign as a 100-point team. It's on top of the Metropolitan Division and could win a division title for the third straight year.
Being one of the top two seeds in the playoffs means you should make the conference final, but the Canes haven't done that since they returned to the postseason in 2018-2019 after a 10-year absence. They were swept by the Bruins. With the way Boston is playing, history could repeat itself—and that would be enough to spark an uproar about whether Carolina can get it done in the playoffs. (Yes, I know the Hurricanes beat the B's in a seven-game first-round series last year.)
While they've advanced past the first round in each of the past two seasons, the second round has tripped them up, with losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021 and New York Rangers in 2022. And the Metropolitan is beastly again this year. Winning it means getting to face a wild-card team in the opening round, but if the New Jersey Devils overtake the Hurricanes, Carolina will have a rematch with the Rangers. Not great!
When you win the division and crack triple digits in the points column, you have to get to the conference final, and the Stanley Cup Final is the logical endpoint. Carolina has the second-best record in the league. Yes, the best team is also in the Eastern Conference, but the Canes aren't the cute story anymore. It's time to grow up and win it all.
—Joe Yerdon
Edmonton Oilers
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Sometimes, it's just about the math.
The Edmonton Oilers haven't won the Stanley Cup in 33 years, which is longer than all but one of their players—veteran bottom-sixer Derek Ryan—has been alive. Interestingly, newly acquired defenseman Mattias Ekholm was born on the very same day (May 24, 1990) the team last lifted the chalice.
They're not under pressure because of those factoids, though.
Instead, it's because of the video-game numbers they've produced this regular season and in the recent past—and their lack of results in the playoffs.
This season alone, Connor McDavid became the 10th player in history to reach 140 points. Leon Draisaitl's two-point night Tuesday gave him 116, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' goal and four assists gave him a career-best 96 through 75 games.
They were Nos. 1, 2 and 6 among the league's top scorers entering Wednesday, helping the team to sizable leads in goals (298), goals per game (3.97) and power-play success rate (32.7).
It's a prolific continuation of a recent theme for the Oilers, who have been among the league's highest-powered units for three straight seasons. They've made the playoffs in each of those campaigns after a prolonged drought that yielded just one berth in 13 years. But that has resulted in just two series wins and a below-.500 record (8-12).
The clock is ticking. McDavid has three seasons left on his contract. Draisaitl has two. Evander Kane was brought in last season to supplement their virtuosity, and Ekholm arrived Feb. 28 to provide the Chris Pronger-type blue line presence that No. 8-seeded Edmonton rode to Game 7 of the Cup Final in 2006.
These sorts of gatherings don't happen often. And unless the Oilers find their way to the final and win it, they risk being remembered historically—but for all the wrong reasons.
—Lyle Fitzsimmons
Toronto Maple Leafs
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The Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in 1967. Their last playoff series victory came in 2004.
After clinching their seventh straight postseason berth, the Leafs will face the most pressure of this year's 16 playoff clubs.
Failure to at least advance past the first round could have dire consequences for general manager Kyle Dubas. While stars Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly were already on the roster when Dubas took over in 2018, he built most of the team. Dubas will bear the brunt of the blame if Toronto falters again—and it could cost him his job.
Another early exit could also earn head coach Sheldon Keefe the wrath of Leafs Nation. Hired by Dubas in 2019, he has made this club a solid regular-season one, but postseason success has eluded him. If the GM gets the heave-ho, Keefe could be right behind him.
Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly and captain John Tavares will also feel the weight of expectations from not just the fans and media in Toronto but also those across Canada. While the Leafs win or lose as a team, those five core players will be counted on to elevate their play and carry the club not just past the first round but also into the Stanley Cup Final.
Another early playoff exit will lead to calls for changes to the roster from the Leafs' rabid supporters. That could include demands for at least one of the core five to be traded.
As Toronto's best player, Matthews will be under the most pressure. With a year left on his contract and his unrestricted free agency coming next July, he must deliver in this postseason or face an uncertain future, especially if Dubas loses his job.
Failure is not an option. The future is now. Put up or shut up. Every one of those clichés applies to the Maple Leafs in this postseason.
—Lyle Richardson
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