The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway on Saturday night. With 16 teams hopeful they can make a serious run at winning a championship, only one will win the right to do so.
With that comes varying amounts of pressure. One look at the 16 teams in the playoffs show how they are each at different points in their cycle.
This week, the NHL on ESPN held their annual press conference to discuss the storylines heading into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Lead play-by play voice Sean McDonough, analyst Ray Ferraro, Mark Messier and P.K. Subban spoke for around 45 minutes on the top stories they are each following.
The Hockey Writers was on the call and asked each of them the same question. Which team in these playoffs faces the most pressure to win such that if they fail to do so, it could lead to massive changes? Each of them had interesting things to say.
Three teams in particular came up throughout this discussion.
Another year, another good regular season for the Maple Leafs. In 2024-25, they won the Atlantic Division. This guarantees them home-ice advantage in the first two rounds should they advance.
But it is another year with the same core. This time, they are led by coach Craig Berube who has them playing better defensively. Couple that with the goaltending duo of Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll and you have a team who believes they can make a deep playoff run.
The pressure to do so though is at an all-time high. Here are what Ferraro and Messier had to say about the pressure facing the Maple Leafs in these playoffs.
“Well, I would say that there’s probably a lot of pressure, as there is every year in Toronto, you know, with Marner coming up to free agency,” Ferraro said. “I think there’s some pretty obvious pressure when you think about that.”
“If you talk about teams with pressure, there’s players that are generational players that want to etch themselves into the history books and be compared to the greatest ever,” Messier said. “Well, in order to do that, you’ve got to win. So, if you look at McDavid, you look at Auston Matthews, especially in Toronto with the pressure on the team and what not, I think that’s a different kind of pressure than the team or a player that’s trying to win for the first time.”
Subban added his thoughts on the Maple Leafs’ situation.
“Toronto has built a team in a way that hasn’t proven to have any success in the playoffs. The only team that’s been able to do it of those top-heavy guys is Chicago. Colorado obviously had the big guys, but they got their payday after. It was Chicago and really Pittsburgh. Those guys all took pay cuts.”
“I think the way that these teams have built their team — it remains to be seen that the way that Toronto has built their team and Brendan Shanahan over that time, has that been the right way to build a team? That’s what we’re talking about now that eight, nine, ten years have gone by, and they’ve gone through so many GMs with the same core group of players. I agree, Ray, with what you said, Toronto has played the best hockey that we’ve seen them play over the years because of Craig Berube, but they have to get over the hump. A first-round loss for them, even a second-round loss for me is inexcusable for me in the town that they have.”
Between the uncertainty of Marner’s future and Matthews’ desire to be among the greatest, anything short of a Stanley Cup will feel like another failed season.
It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Going into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the one team that isn’t getting a lot of noise around them is the Carolina Hurricanes. But yet, because of their inability to break through in recent years, they are one of the teams under the most pressure to find success.
Here’s what McDonough had to say about the Hurricanes.
“I think the team nobody is talking about is Carolina. I don’t think Rod Brind’Amour is in any jeopardy of getting fired if they don’t do well in the playoffs, but the last few years when we’ve been on this call, it’s been a very trendy pick to pick them to win the Stanley Cup or get to the final. Now nobody is talking about them, and they still have a pretty good team, but they have the same kind of team.
“They tried to add Rantanen, and we saw how that went. I just don’t know where they are right now and what the future looks like if they don’t have a successful run in the playoffs. It seems like not a lot of people are picking them to have a very successful run in the playoffs this time around.”
Subban agreed with what McDonough had to say and added his thoughts.
“Once again, they go and get Rantanen, but they end up losing Rantanen and Necas before they even have a chance to contend in the playoffs. I don’t think they’re really in a better spot than they have been in the past, but that’s my opinion.”
On the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes, Subban added: “If there aren’t changes there, then it just kind of seems you see that they’re accepting mediocrity in a way, right? There should be changes if those teams don’t do anything special.”
New Jersey won’t have Jack Hughes in their first round series against the Hurricanes. But if they can’t make another deep playoff run, you have to start wondering what changes they have to make to get over the hump. How often can you run the same model without success?
On the other side of the Rantanen story is the Dallas Stars. They traded for him and locked him up for eight seasons. However it hasn’t been the start they were hoping for.
Add in Jason Robertson’s and Miro Heiskanen’s injury and there is a real chance the Stars lose to the Avalanche in the first round. Given some of the aging players on the Stars, they face a real pressure to win now. Here is what Subban had to say about them.
“Yeah, it’s pretty clear to me. If you go through the teams in the West, specifically this pressure in Dallas, they got Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin that have been a part of that core. Obviously Joe Pavelski has moved out. They add in Rantanen. They add in these guys. They have Duchane there. They have players. They haven’t been able to get over that hump. With Robertson and Wyatt Johnston, they have some good, young players, but it doesn’t get any easier there.”
Every team has varying degrees of pressure. While the Maple Leafs, Hurricanes and Stars were discussed in a little more detail, other teams were called out too by the ESPN crew. Here is a little of what else was said.
“I think being one of the top two teams in the league all year, Washington will feel a different kind of pressure,” Ferraro said. “There’s an expectation that last year was just a great story that they squeaked in and what a plucky team and all that. Now this year they’re in a different spot.”
Ferraro then pondered how the West will shake out. Then he made a great point about the aftermath of pressure for teams who do lose.
“Then you get over into the West. I mean, all those teams think they can win, right? Winnipeg thinks they can win. Dallas and Colorado have talked about it all year. Vegas is the same. Only one of them is getting out of that side.”
“Pressure is funny, because it’s only what you choose to take on. We’re going to all talk about and we’re going to write about the pressure on this guy or that guy or this team or that coach. It’s interesting to think that, oh, if you don’t win, there’s going to be these massive changes. Change is not easy. There could be teams that want to make all kinds of changes if they bomb out in the playoffs, but it’s not that easy to make those changes.”
“So, I don’t know if there’s one team that you would say, oh, if they don’t get out of the first round, that’s it, the coach is gone, they’re going to trade the star and all that, but there’s varying degrees of pressure. Mess would know best of us, but some guys and some players can hang better with it than others.”
Messier acknowledged that there are different kinds of pressures the players and teams face from his perspective.
“I think there’s different kinds of pressure, different levels of pressure, but ultimately, any team that wants to win and has a chance to win is going to feel pressure. I just think there’s different levels of pressure, and I think some of the players that need to win for their place in history is different. I think we’re going to see that played out again this year. We see it every year, to be honest with you.”
“When you talk about pressure, to sum it up, I think every team feels pressure. I think there are some teams and some players that feel a different level of pressure for different reasons.”
That’s what make the playoffs great, right? The 16 teams left all have a chance at the start. Who will rise up when the moment calls for it? Who will be the next hero to help their teams advance? We’re all about to find out.
Enjoy the playoffs, everyone. Should be a lot of fun.
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