NHL Power Rankings: Which teams are under the most pressure to win?

In this week’s column from our expert David Stevenson, our NHL Power Rankings take a look at which postseason contenders are under the most pressure to win immediately. Also, his usual rants and ramblings.

The NHL season is entering its final stretch. Certain teams are under pressure to win now while other teams are feeling virtually none relative to their peers. This week’s column and NHL Power Rankings focus on which team are feeling it and which teams are playing with house money.

Also, we’ve got our usual highlights, rants and ramblings, and other miscellaneous hockey things. So let’s get to it.

NHL Power Rankings

In honor of one of my writing heroes Craig Custance of The Athletic, this week’s rankings will feature his favorite thing in the world – tiers. Unlike last week’s rankings, this week’s will be from the bottom to the top. Which teams are under the most pressure to win this year?

Minimal Pressure

Washington Capitals

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Any team who wins the Stanley Cup should get a three-year grace period to do whatever the heck they want without facing the ire of their fanbase. Winning a Stanley Cup is immensely difficult and should be celebrated to the fullest.

However, as they say, once you taste success, you want more. The Capitals are peaking at the right time. And they’ve got a huge gorilla off their backs by winning the Stanley Cup. But, as T.J. Oshie said during their parade, they want to win it again. Still, you guys got the Cup, so the immense pressure is gone.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. But that’s not enough for Sidney Crosby and company. Still, they’ve earned themselves a long leash. There isn’t much the Penguins could do to improve their legacy short of winning a Stanley Cup. So the pressure is mostly off of them.

Whoever gets the second wild card spot in the Western Conference will be playing with house money. They’ll (most likely) be facing the Calgary Flames. No one will expect them to win. If they so much as take the series to six games, people will be impressed. But hey, if they lose, everyone expected them to lose anyway.

Same as above, except replace “Calgary Flames” with “Tampa Bay Lightning”. They’ll be playing with house money and they’ll be expected to be obliterated. As the saying goes, nothing’s more dangerous than someone who has nothing to lose.

Carolina Hurricanes

They’re playing with house money. The Hurricanes a very young group whose best years are ahead of them. Also, they have won a Stanley Cup, though 2006 is a while ago. The only pressure on them is the pressure of coming up with new post-win celebrations.

Some Pressure

New York Islanders

On one hand, the New York Islanders are sort of playing with house money. No one thought they’d be as good as they are this season. But at the same time, you look at their pending free agents and you can’t help but wonder if this will be their best shot at winning. At the very least, the Islanders’ window is open for roughly the next three seasons. Time is ticking.

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have an expiration date and they know it. You don’t hire and fire Ken Hitchcock in the span of a year unless you know that. The Stars should be a good team for the next few years, but you never know.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues are the new whipping boys of Hockey Twitter. Before, it was the Capitals because they hadn’t won a Stanley Cup. Now it’s the Blues turn. Their best players are either in their prime or close to exiting it. Now’s a pretty darn good chance for them to make a Stanley Cup run.

Starting To Feel It

Vegas Golden Knights

They say the sequel is rarely better than the original. The Vegas Golden Knights have a heck of a bar to meet after last season’s Stanley Cup appearance. They’re not playing as well as they were at this point last season, but adding Mark Stone should help even things out. There’s also the issue of their uncertainty regarding the salary cap because they’ve got some tough decisions to make this summer.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators have their Stanley Cup window firmly open. It’s not “win now or never” time for them yet, but it’s approaching.

Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames likely won’t be this great again. They’ll be good for a while for sure, but unless they can magically find a cost-effective goaltender, this is their best chance to win. After all, Father Time catches up to everyone. Even Mark Giordano. General Manager Brad Treviling will have to answer a lot of questions if Mike Smith and David “Big Save Dave” Rittich don’t hold up their end of the bargain in net.

Boston Bruins

Even though the Boston Bruins have won a Stanley Cup in this decade (2011), they’re under pressure to win because of their captain Zdeno Chara. The pidgeon-feeding giant defenseman has approached the point in his career where he could retire after this season and no one would be shocked. Disappointed? Sure. But surprised? Probably not. They’ve also got some cap concerns moving forward.

Minnesota Wild

Unless the Wild can have some postseason success, Paul Fenton is going to continue leaving his mark on the team. Those changes would be coming even if they win the Stanley Cup, but there are legacies at stake here. Bruce Boudreau is pretty much coaching for his job at this point. Heck, he’s coaching for his freaking legacy at this point. Who’s taking Boudreau seriously if the Wild don’t do something in the postseason?

All The Pressure

San Jose Sharks

Time is almost up for the San Jose Sharks. They went all-in by trading for Gustav Nyquist at the trade deadline and Erik Karlsson back in September. The Sharks don’t have either of their next two first-round picks. Joe Thornton’s approaching the point in his career where he’s signing one-year deals. Joe Pavelski will be a free agent, along with Karlsson. This might well be their last chance.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning have immense expectations entering the postseason. There’s no reason they shouldn’t at least represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. Across the board, they have advantages in virtually every category over their opponents.

Steven Stamkos’ legacy is going to take a hit, whether it’s fair or not if the captain fails to deliver in another Game 7. Big changes could be coming if the Lightning, for the third time in four seasons, fail to make it past the Eastern Conference Final. Also, President’s Trophy winners aren’t getting taken seriously for a while if the Bolts don’t come through. So please, Tampa, come through.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are always under pressure. But this season, they’re under even more pressure than usual. This is the last season Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will be dirt cheap. Ergo, now there’s best time to win. Because it’s only going to get more difficult from here on out. Also, if the Leafs can’t make it past the first round, Mike Babcock could be (and perhaps should be) gone.

Winnipeg Jets

Much like the Maple Leafs, the Jets are going to have to make some changes this offseason to fit under the salary cap. Patrik Laine’s huge slump should make his next deal a bit more reasonable, but even so, the Jets are a team built to win right now, not later. Also, the New York Rangers are a test subject regarding what happens when you keep trading first-round picks like the Jets. Eventually, you run out. And when you do, it’s ugly.

Under The Most Pressure

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets went all-in at the trade deadline. In the process, they mortgaged quite a bit of their future. The Blue Jackets could lose four of their top players in one offseason. Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are goners. That’s a given. Ryan Dzingel could stay, as could Matt Duchene. But keep in mind, if they want to keep the latter, they’ll have to give up their 2020 first-round pick.

Both the general manager and head coach recently got extensions. So it’s going to be really fun if the Blue Jackets don’t make it out of the first round. Heck, imagine if they don’t even make the playoffs. If you like chaos, that’s what you need to root for.

Highlights Of The Week

Remember when Alex Ovechkin scored “The Goal”? You know, the one where he literally scored from his knees against the Arizona Coyotes? Well, Ovechkin now has “the pass”. Against the Flyers, Ovi went down to his knees. It’s telling that everyone thought he was going to find a way to shoot the puck. Instead, Ovechkin just passed it to Tom Wilson, who probably will never have an easier goal in his life.

The Boston Bruins have been playing phenomenal hockey, even without David Pastrnak around. Trailing 3-2 to the Florida Panthers with under a minute to go, they scored twice in the final minute to win 4-3.

If you like two for one specials, you’ll love what the Hurricanes did against the Panthers. In under 20 seconds, they provided two highlight reel plays. First, an unbelievable save from Petr Mrazek to deny Jonathan Huberdeau. Next, a goal from rising star Sebastian Aho.

Rants And Ramblings

Patrick Marleau has been underrated for his entire career. During his prime years, he was overshadowed by guys like Joe Thornton. He has been about as consistent as you can get as a forward. If Marleau can get to the 40 point plateau this season, he’ll be tied for eighth all-time among forwards for most seasons with at least 40 points.
Delay of game is quite subjective in the NHL. Somehow, putting a puck over the glass is delaying the game. Inadvertently knocking your net out of place can be as well. Yet, deliberately losing a faceoff after icing isn’t (looking at you, Babcock). Taking your time getting set isn’t delaying the game. Putting the puck over the glass should be the same as icing, not a two-minute penalty unless you really want to increase scoring. Speaking of which…
Here’s the easiest way the NHL could create more scoring – make all power plays two minutes long, regardless of if the team scores. Yes, this is cruel to the shorthanded team, but killing a penalty isn’t supposed to be easy. Everybody loves more goals, so why not turn power plays into more of an advantage like they ought to be?
While we’re on the topic of power plays, let’s get to power plays within the last two minutes of a period. Teams should be allowed to defer a man advantage to the start of the next period if they won’t get a whole two minutes before the period is over.
What about power plays in the final two minutes of a game? Sometimes, teams will deliberately commit penalties to avoid giving up a goal in the final seconds. Time to make things more interesting. If there’s a power play at the end of the game, you have to play until it’s over.
Slowly, but surely, the game is becoming safer. At the latest GM meetings, two rules were proposed that I love. First, a player who loses his helmet must leave the ice. Secondly, helmets must be worn during warmups. It’s not as good as making all head contact illegal (and eligible for supplemental discipline), but it’s a good start.
Attention NHL players: I can’t believe this has to be said, but stop pushing players into your goalie. That is all.
Hats off to Carey Price, who tied the late, great Jacques Plante with his 314th win in a Canadiens sweater. Few players are more kind, compassionate, and gentlemanly than him. If Price retires with over 450 wins, is that enough for him to get in the Hall of Fame?
Another huge milestone for Sidney Crosby – two actually. First, he now has nine seasons with at least 30 goals. Only two players have more such seasons in a Penguins sweater. Secondly, Crosby picked up his 1,200th career point against the Florida Panthers.
Speaking of Sid The Kid, a lot of Penguins and Capitals fans are arguing these days. Crosby just passed Ovechkin in career points despite playing in less games. Can’t we just appreciate two generational players? Crosby’s an all-time great. As is Ovechkin. Crosby’s an all-around generational player. Ovechkin’s the best goal scorer there ever was and ever will be. Appreciate guys like them because once they’re gone, it will be a very long time before we are blessed enough to see two players like them.
Barry Trotz added another bullet point to his already impressive resume with his 800th career win on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. He was already on the fence to be a Hall of Famer before he won a Stanley Cup. Trotz is pretty much a guaranteed Hall of Famer now. Funny how one’s legacy can change in just a few months.
Ryan Kesler of the Anaheim Ducks played in his 1,000th game. He’s a polarizing player, but a darn good one. Kesler’s probably not a Hall of Famer, but if there was a Hall Of Really Good Players, he’d be in that. In his prime, few were better defensively than him. Kesler’s road to 1,000 games has been far from easy, as he’s dealt with numerous health issues in recent years. I might not like Kesler, but I sure as heck respect him.
Now that Ovechkin has won a Stanley Cup, it’s time to start discussing who takes his place as the active player who deserves a championship the most. Right now, it’s probably Joe Thornton. Henrik Lundqvist and Marleau are definitely in that conversation too. It’s almost like judging individuals by team accomplishments isn’t an efficient way of doing things!
Someone give me a good reason why Pierre Turgeon, Theo Fleury, and Peter Bondra aren’t in the Hall of Fame. I sure can’t think of one, especially with guys like Mike Gartner and Mike Modano in the Hall.
It was cool to see the Hurricanes wear Hartford Whalers jerseys. But until the Canes start honoring their ancestors by re-retiring their numbers, wearing Whalers sweaters is a very hollow act.
How did Alex DeBrincat fall to the second round? Yes, he was small. But I don’t know how you could look at his junior numbers and think “this guy’s not an NHLer”. Maybe the success of guys like Johnny Gaudreau and DeBrincat will give the NHL the wakeup call it desperately needs regarding small players. Height is not nearly as important as how a player uses their height (or lack thereof) to their advantage.
Other than Connor McDavid, is there a more fun player in the league to watch than Viktor Arvidsson? The guy is like a human pinball. He bounces off of everything and is all over the place on the ice. Also, Arvidsson has a very good chance of reaching 30 goals despite missing 24 games due to injury.
The Hart Trophy discussion starts and ends with Nikita Kucherov. Gaudreau, Crosby, and Ovechkin should all get votes. Patrick Kane likely will get some too. But at this point, I can’t formulate an argument against Kucherov without punishing the guy for playing on a great team. The Hart doesn’t go to “the player deemed to be most valuable on a fringe playoff team”. It goes to “the player deemed to be most valuable”. Don’t overthink this, it’s Kucherov.
Mark Stone should win the Selke Trophy. He put up incredible possession numbers on a terrible team. And though Stone’s possession numbers on paper in Vegas look bad, keep in mind he’s still on the right side of 50 percent in possession stats with the Golden Knights while facing tough competition. Everyone else in Vegas is putting up insanely good possession numbers since his arrival. That’s not a coincidence.