00:00Alright, it is another edition of our NHL Preview as we get ready for the start of the
00:15NHL season.
00:16And look, every team comes in saying they are the one, that this is our year, it's Stanley
00:23Cup or bust, here we go, we got this, this is our year.
00:29We know only a few mean that though, right?
00:31We have an understanding, like they're talking in Calgary about, yeah, you know, we can surprise
00:35some people.
00:36Will you?
00:37We'll see.
00:38Um, but, there are some teams who that's legitimate.
00:41It is Stanley Cup or bust.
00:43And there are even more teams who have a lot of pressure on them coming into this season.
00:48And so today, going to be looking at the teams that need the Stanley Cup the most.
00:54Which teams need to win this year?
00:58Obviously I feel like a lot of teams, you know, want to win, and all of those things.
01:03But who needs this one the most?
01:07I have a poll up right now, so you guys can get that voting going and all of those things.
01:17But let's get into it now.
01:19Honorable mention to the Carolina Hurricanes.
01:23This is a team that I feel like they have underperformed in the postseason the last
01:30couple of years.
01:31I do only have them as an honorable mention simply because they are a team that lost quite
01:39a few pieces in this offseason.
01:41And so I think the pressure to do well, even though I put their coach on the hot seat on
01:45the last preview episode that we did on Wednesday, I do think that this is a team that probably
01:50has a little bit of wiggle room.
01:52So, coming in at number 5, the team that needs it the most this year in the NHL, it's the
01:56Boston Bruins.
01:58The Bruins are a team that… long, proud history, all of those things.
02:05But it's been a minute since they were a Stanley Cup contender in, you know, the late
02:10rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and things like that.
02:14They have gone out and made some big acquisitions, acquisitions that people in Calgary are going
02:19to be very familiar with, right?
02:23When you bring in Nikita Sidorov, and you bring in Elias Lindholm, you are not doing
02:29that just so you have the long-term stability of this organization.
02:33You are wanting to win now, because those contracts, I hate to tell you, those contracts
02:37aren't going to look awesome in the next couple of years.
02:41And so when you have the Boston Bruins, who haven't been out of the second round since
02:46they lost to the St. Louis Blues back in 2019, I think there's some pressure on here.
02:54And I think that this is a team that is going to try to come out and really make a statement.
03:01Again, I think it gets ugly.
03:03We're also in the latter stages of Brad Marchand, and in the latter stages of…
03:08well, not latter stages, I guess, I was going to say a Pasternak, I don't think that's
03:11accurate, actually.
03:12But, Marchand, he is on the back part of his career, still playing very effectively, but
03:16still in the back part of his career.
03:17And so I think when you combine all of those forces, it leads to must-win territory for
03:23the Boston Bruins.
03:24So they are the team that needs it the fifth most, in my opinion, in the NHL.
03:28At four, it's the New York Rangers.
03:30I have said before, I like this Rangers team a lot.
03:32Panarin is legitimately one of my favorite players in the NHL, and Mika Zabinijad, you
03:36know, ditto.
03:39And so, like, there are pieces on this team that I really, really, really like.
03:45But, I do also have some concerns, again, about maybe a lack of playoff success.
03:52This has been one of the best teams in the league for a minute now.
03:56And it still hasn't really clicked in the way that they would want it to, if we're
04:01going to hold the Boston Bruins record against them.
04:04I guess the Rangers, they do make it to the conference finals here this last go-around.
04:07Actually, you know what?
04:08They've been in the conference finals two of the last three years.
04:10Maybe I'm… maybe I'm overstating the lack of playoff success.
04:14Because before that, they had the first-round loss against the Devils.
04:17They didn't qualify for the playoffs in 20 and 21.
04:21And actually, that was four years in a row they technically didn't qualify for the
04:25postseason.
04:26So, maybe I'm still stuck in that.
04:28But either way, their time is now.
04:31When you look at having one of the best goaltenders in the league, one of the best players in
04:34the league, in Artemi Panarin, one of the best defensemen in the league, in Adam Fox,
04:42then all of a sudden, this is a team that I think should be doing a little bit better
04:47than they have been, and needs to start to really build some things up here.
04:51So, I do think that there is a lot of pressure on the New York Rangers.
04:57The team with the third-most amount of pressure on them this year, the Vegas Golden Knights.
05:02Hey, Crash Andrews.
05:03How's it going?
05:04Thanks for joining the chat.
05:05And also, I believe we just had an influx of people here.
05:08So, yes, we're doing a bit of NHL right now, and then we're going to get to the
05:12fantasy football in just a second.
05:14At number three, it's the Vegas Golden Knights.
05:16They just won the Stanley Cup very, very recently.
05:18But, I feel like when you run a team the way Vegas does, there is kind of a proof of concept
05:24that is needed when you are constantly, hey, Toxic, how's it going?
05:29When you are constantly out there, moving players, and just, okay, well, we traded for
05:34this guy.
05:35He is the apple of our eye.
05:36This is so nice to see.
05:37By the way, we've just traded you to Buffalo, so deal with that.
05:41When you're constantly moving players in and out, and trying to circumvent things the
05:46way they have, which, again, totally legal, but when you do that, you do have to continue
05:51to win.
05:52Vegas did not do that last year.
05:53There's pressure on them to do it this year.
05:55At two, it's the Toronto Maple Leafs, because they're the Maple Leafs.
05:58But also, this is kind of the last dance for this group, which, again, I apologize for
06:04continuing to be one of the people who overuses that.
06:09And so, oh, thank you, Crash.
06:11I really appreciate that.
06:12I appreciate that quite a bit, thank you.
06:16For the Leafs, like, again, I said this is the last dance.
06:21This is not a team that has had the success, even close, to the Chicago Bulls.
06:26They are to losing what the Bulls were to winning, in the playoffs, anyway.
06:29But still, this is the last go-around, probably, for Matthews, Nylander, Marner, and Tavares,
06:35and Riley.
06:37I think we can all agree on that one, as well.
06:39So, I do think that there is quite a bit of pressure on Toronto this year to find a
06:44proof of concept.
06:45Listening to the CJ show, with CJ and Julian, yes, I still listen to some shows on that
06:51network.
06:52One.
06:53But, listening to them, you have the, they were talking about what would be the funniest
06:59thing to happen to your team, and I think they said for the Leafs, it's like, Marner
07:04comes out and has just a blowaway playoffs, and this team makes, like, the Eastern Conference
07:08Finals.
07:09That would be hilarious.
07:10That would be absolutely amazing.
07:11I would greatly appreciate that.
07:13I think it would be just a whole lot of fun if that was a thing that ended up happening
07:21with them.
07:22And so, I do think that there is quite a bit of pressure on the Toronto Maple Leafs to
07:27try to make something like that happen here this year.
07:31And the number one team with the most pressure on them is the Edmonton Oilers.
07:34They finally make it to the promised land within Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and
07:42wouldn't you know it, they come up just a little bit short.
07:45They do, I still think, again, I know, toxic, I know, that the Oilers, you know, we don't
07:50want them to do it, but they kind of need to.
07:53When you have Dry Sidle, when you have McDavid, when you have a Dry Sidle extension coming
07:57up that is going to be expensive, and you have a McDavid contract that is coming up
08:01that's going to be expensive-er, there's a lot of pressure to win now.
08:07And when you give up on future assets like Holloway and Broberg in the way they did,
08:14the pressure is on in Edmonton.
08:15I don't think I'm breaking news with that, but the pressure is absolutely 100% on with
08:20the Edmonton Oilers.
08:22So they are the team that needs it the most in the NHL for the 2024-2025 season.
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