Which player faces the most pressure to deliver in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs?
The playoffs are underway and we’ve spent plenty of time teeing up the narratives for each team, including which are under the most pressure to win.
Today, we pivot to talk individuals for the Daily Faceoff Roundtable. Which PLAYER do you believe is under the most pressure to deliver in the 2022-23 playoffs?
MATT LARKIN: I’ll be generous and leave the low-hanging Toronto fruit to one of you. I’m looking out West at Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights. Pressure, in his first trip to the playoffs ever? Well, we know the Golden Knights are the most ruthless franchise in hockey. They once traded away a reigning Vezina Trophy winner, remember. And after a division win in 2022-23, the postseason gives them their first chance to find out if Eichel is Him, the star player who was worth trading Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and a pick that became first-rounder Noah Ostlund to acquire. If Eichel falls flat…hey, we’ve seen how quickly this team turns on its own.
NICK ALBERGA: I, too, will leave the low-hanging Toronto fruit for someone else. I’m going to go off the radar and zone in on Igor Shesterkin. On paper, that Rangers roster is ridiculous. Suffice it is to say, Chris Drury had himself a trade deadline. With that in mind, the onus is now firmly on the players on Broadway to get the job done. As we all know, everything starts and ends in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with goaltending —unless you’re the 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche and you just bulldoze your opponents. Simply put, regardless of who’s on that roster, New York will go as far as Shesterkin takes them. Undeniably, he has to be feeling pressure to perform.
STEVEN ELLIS: I’m sticking with the goalie theme – Alexandar Georgiev. His arrival turned a lot of heads last summer, with the pressure of him helping the Avalanche win it all again being quite huge. So far, he has gotten the job done, but this series hasn’t been easy against Seattle. By all accounts, the Avs should have the advantage in net. But the Kraken can be pesky, and Colorado doesn’t have the same firepower it did a year ago. The Avalanche made a big gamble deciding to go with Georgiev instead of either keeping Darcy Kuemper or finding someone else on the open market. Will it pay off? The Avs hope so.
FRANK SERAVALLI: It seems odd to me the relative lack of focus placed on Auston Matthews. It almost feels like he gets a pass for some unknown reason. He’s nearly 26, he’s not “young” anymore, and was the third-highest paid player in the league this season by cap hit. His apparent hand injury (revealed on March 15) helps explain a drop in his goal scoring this season, but is only part of the explanation. When will Matthews rise to the occasion in the playoffs? In 41 postseason games, his goal scoring is cut by 33 percent compared to his career regular season rate. Forty-one games is enough of a sample size, and enough to determine that when the Leafs have needed a big goal in a big moment, he hasn’t delivered yet. Legends are made in the playoffs, not the regular season.
MIKE MCEKNNA: The easy answer to this question is almost every goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs not named Andrei Vasilevskiy. You guys have already named a few. The pressure is real across the board for the netminders. But realistically, with how good the Oilers were down the stretch, I think Connor McDavid is still under immense pressure to deliver in Edmonton. The thing is: I don’t think that pressure is as much external as it once was. McDavid has rounded out his game in the past few seasons. He now kills penalties. He’s strong in the faceoff circle. But I think McDavid puts a ton of internal pressure on himself. All the greats in hockey have won multiple Stanley Cup championships. McDavid is now 26 years old and he has yet to win a championship. It has to weigh heavy on him. Especially knowing this year’s version of the Oilers is the best he’s been a part of.
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