The 2026–27 NHL season is just a few weeks away, and we are at the time of year when almost any contender can convince themselves they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. But for some teams, simply having a good season isn’t going to be enough. Expectations are high, championship windows are getting smaller and the pressure to win continues to build.
Here are the five NHL teams under the most pressure heading into this season.
Edmonton Oilers
Despite the Oilers having two of the top five best forwards in the game in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and one of the best defensemen in hockey in Evan Bouchard, they have made the Finals just twice in the last 10-plus years, while making the playoffs just 7 times in McDavid’s 11 seasons in the league.
The Oilers are coming into this season off a disappointing early exit from the playoffs in the first round after two straight Finals appearances. That early exit, plus the pressure of convincing McDavid to re-sign in Edmonton in two years’ time, makes this season a Cup-or-bust year.
The Oilers made some moves this offseason to try and help their chances, trading longtime D-man Darnell Nurse to the Sharks for the younger Shakir Mukhamadullin and also bringing in Ryan Shea and Cup-winning goalie Frederik Andersen, along with the youthful Devon Levi. They also brought in a new coach in the controversial Mike Babcock, who brings his own type of pressure to that locker room.
Can the Oilers finally fight through the pressure of a fanbase that demands a Cup from two of the best players in the world, or will they crumble again?
Toronto Maple Leafs
Four seasons ago, the Maple Leafs finally got out of the first round after falling at the first hurdle for six straight years, and despite the run ending the very next round in just five games, there was optimism among fans that this team would finally go on a deep run.
But in typical Leafs fashion for the last 60 years, they were bounced in 7 games once again by the Bruins. Then the next season, they made the second round again, losing in 7 games to the Panthers, in which the decider was a blowout loss on home ice. Then, to put the cherry on top, last season they missed the playoffs in a disastrous season, and the fanbase in Toronto has just about had enough of the constant failure from their team for the last decade and from the organization for the last 60 years. The pressure continues to build from them as they expect nothing but the Cup coming back to the Six.
The Leafs also have internal pressure heading into this season, with Auston Matthews’ latest contract set to expire in two seasons and him making it very clear he will only stay if the team is contending. Pressure is on for the Leafs to show Matthews he can and will win here if he stays.
But the Leafs have had a brilliant offseason with the acquisition of D-man Darren Raddysh and two-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, and drafting forward Gavin McKenna first overall. Along with the hopefully healthy return of captain Auston Matthews, the expectation will be, at the very least, that the Leafs rebound and return to the playoffs once again, and if not, there will surely be a reckoning in Leafs town.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs are coming off a dominant season in which they were clear favourites to come out of the West and, of course, win Lord Stanley himself.
But the pressure is mounting because, despite having debatably the second-best player in the world in Nathan MacKinnon and, in my humble opinion (not really humble), the best defenseman in the world, Cale Makar, the Avs have won just one Cup back in 2022 and have been back to the Conference Finals just once this year, when they were swept aside by the Vegas Golden Knights.
After losing in the first and the second round twice the previous three seasons since the Cup, the pressure will only continue to mount for a team seemingly built to win the Cup.
With the Avs returning much of the roster alongside MacKinnon and Makar in Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri, Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews, they should once again be strong contenders for the Cup if they cancel out the noise and play through the pressure.
Florida Panthers
Florida, after missing the playoffs just a year removed from winning back-to-back Cups, went out and made arguably the biggest move of the offseason, bringing in former Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk to play alongside his brother Matthew and bringing in Jacob Markstrom to replace Sergei Bobrovsky.
Alongside making their big-time trade, they are also welcoming back the heartbeat of their team in captain Aleksander Barkov after he dealt with a knee injury that kept him out all year.
With this team getting back to full health, the pressure will be fully on them. That’s how dominant they had been previously, and it will be expected by a lot of people that the East runs through Florida (not me, it runs through Carolina in my opinion).
There will also be a different type of pressure this year added on, and that’s the pressure of time, with 15 of the team’s players over the age of 30 and, of those 15, five of them currently over the age of 35.
Can the Panthers outlast Father Time to go to their fourth Stanley Cup Final in five years and win their third in four years?
Dallas Stars
The last and final team I will be talking about today is the Stars, and prior to this previous season, where they were knocked out in the first round, they had previously lost in the Conference Finals for three straight years.
The Stars, despite being absolutely loaded with talent in Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger, just can’t seem to find a way to get over the hump. Because of this, pressure is really starting to get turned up on this group to finally get the job done.
Some of the serious pressure is coming towards the forwards and goaltending, especially after their first round this year, where Oettinger gave up 23 goals and the offense scored just 15 times, of which just 4, yes 4, were even-strength goals.
To alleviate some of that pressure, they have got to figure out their goal-scoring issues and lack of depth in that department as well, and fix those leaks, which many believe to be caused by the mounting pressure on star goalie Jake Oettinger to really show why he is paid $8.25 million a year.
Conclusion
Those are the five teams I think are under the most pressure to get the job done this season. Will any of these five teams be able to finally get the job done, or get the job done once again in some cases? Or will they crack under pressure once again. We will have to wait for the season before we can answer that all important question.
