Connor McDavid, Oilers facing most pressure among remaining teams

There's no NHL team facing more pressure to finally get the job done than the Edmonton Oilers. After losing to the eventual champion Vegas Golden Knights last year, Edmonton entered this season with the hockey world wondering how it would respond. 

But after making quick work of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, the shock of Wednesday night's 5-4 Game 1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks has the Oilers trailing 1-0 early in Round 2. 

Edmonton finished the regular season with 49 wins, including at one point falling just shy of reaching the NHL mark for the most consecutive victories. However, despite the success of the regular season and the production of individual stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the only way for this season to be a success is if it ends in the Stanley Cup Final. 

While requiring a conference title at minimum may sound unreasonable, it's the reality for any team with a generational player who has been knocking on the door for so long. 

Prior to the disappointment of the 2023 postseason, McDavid registered 33 points during the 2022 playoffs, but all anyone seems to remember is the Oilers came up short of their goal to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton. To put that playoff performance in perspective, Sidney Crosby's highest point total in a single postseason is 31, during his Cup-winning run in 2009. 

To this point in his career, McDavid has 335 goals and is only 18 points away from 1,000 career points. He's also a three-time Hart Trophy winner. 

It's hard to look at his resume and put too much blame on McDavid, but fair or unfair, he's the Crosby or Wayne Gretzky of his team — the face of this era of Oilers hockey. He's also the superstar with the most pressure on him to please the hockey Gods by winning the Stanley Cup and break a 31-year drought without any Canadian-based franchise as champion, the last one being the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. 

McDavid, 27, may seem young, but next season will be his 10th in the NHL. And the more he accomplishes, the more the pressure to win when it matters the most increases. 

Factor in having a worthy co-star in Draisaitl, who has 850 career points himself, a supporting cast that includes veterans like Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the excuses of another early exit will fall on deaf ears. 

As far as the remaining teams across the league, Vancouver was a surprise, the Colorado Avalanche lifted the Cup two years ago, the Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes always fly under the radar, the New York Rangers are a heavy favorite but have a wide open window for years to come, the Florida Panthers made their surprise run last year and the Boston Bruins franchise at least has a championship this century to look back on. 

All of that combined with the constant pressure that surrounds a marque player like McDavid and the stakes are the highest for Edmonton. 

Fair or not, McDavid needs to get the Oilers to the Final for the first time since 2006 and then win the franchise their first Stanley Cup since 1990 in order for his legacy to ever be celebrated to the level he deserves.