Every 2025 NHL Playoff Team's Biggest Flaw

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs underway, we're starting to get a feel for how these teams are stacking up and what makes them tick under the pressure the postseason provides.

Every team has their strengths and weaknesses, but some of those shortcomings can be brutal enough to be a full-blown flaw. It is these holes their opponents will look to hit.

Consider this your study guide to figuring out what each team in the NHL playoffs doesn't want you to know as we expose their biggest flaws.

Washington: Pressure

Being the No. 1 team in the conference comes with the unbearable weight of expectations. Some of the Caps players have been there, done that before when they won the Stanley Cup in 2018. Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Tom Wilson and Lars Eller get it, but the rest of them? They're new to this whole thing.

We saw Washington flinch a bit in their Game 1 overtime win against the Canadiens when the Habs had them on the ropes in the third period. They bent but didn't break in overtime when Ovechkin scored his first ever playoff overtime goal (!!!), but seeing the top team in the East bend at all against the No. 8 Canadiens is worrisome.

Montréal: Playoff inexperience

For the bulk of Game 1, the Capitals were able to bully the Canadiens all over the ice. They flexed their talent and size muscle, and their veteran leaders showed how to do it. The Habs were able to rattle the Caps late in the game, however, and their youthful ignorance of pressure (a good thing) and realization they're playing with house money against the heavy favorites worked in their favor.

There's something to be said for knowing how to win and the Canadiens don't quite have that trait yet. It comes with time and playoff experience, something much of the team is lacking. Can they use that to their advantage? The way they came back in Game 1 showed they can, but as a lasting strategy, it may not be ideal.

Carolina: Yes, It's Goaltending

Everything about the Hurricanes smacks of a team that can go far in the playoffs. They play a suffocating style of game. They have great talent with Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin among many others. They have a deep team as well, but what they lack (once again) is goaltending that gives you confidence they can win it all.

Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov are again their duo, and it was Andersen who got the call in Game 1 against the Devils. He played fine and the Hurricanes cruised to victory, but the Devils also have some of their own problems to contend with. Every projection for Carolina to go deep begins with a question that starts, "If their goaltending..." and that will have their fans holding their breath the whole time.

New Jersey: No Jack Hughes

Any team that's going without their best player in the playoffs is stuck behind the 8-ball and that's just where the Devils are without Jack Hughes.

Hughes' shoulder injury has him out until training camp and the way that affects them down the middle is tough. Nico Hischier, as great as he is, now has to take on an added load and their depth at center gets mightily tested. Dawson Mercer, Cody Glass and Justin Dowling lined up behind Hischier and those guys are getting a tall task trying to fight through and contain Carolina.

Going without Hughes takes away a ton of skill, scoring and playmaking from the lineup. All is not lost in the future though since his brother, Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, said he wants to play alongside his brothers in the future.

Toronto: Psyche

Hockey players are able to tune a lot of things out in order to focus solely on what's happening on the ice. But in Toronto, everything is a lot louder. The Leafs, on paper, have a team that should be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

But their history, the Cup drought since 1967 and the ever-present attention the team gets in Toronto and all over Canada makes it close to impossible to shut out the noise, especially if things start to turn sour.

All of those factors have done in the Leafs in the past to varying degrees and have become unbearable to fight through. Even more so, with a superstar like Mitch Marner looking at free agency in the summer, if anything goes poorly for him, it's an immediate flashpoint for everything to be discussed.

It's a lot, and it's always a lot.

Ottawa: Temper

The Senators have a fun team that could give the Leafs a hard time in the first round. An easy way for them to not be able to do that is to let their emotions run too hot and wind up spending a lot of time in the penalty box.

The Leafs power play and the star power contained on them is too good to give them loads of chances. As it is, the Leafs went 3-for-6 on the power play in Game 1 and if that's not lesson enough for Ottawa, nothing will be. Having Brady Tkachuk out front of the attack makes the Sens dangerous, but picking moments to pester Toronto as opposed to going on a full-out assault would be for the best.

Tampa Bay: Consistency

Something that's worrisome for the Lightning is how inconsistent they've been this season. The moments when they're rolling and at the top of their game, they look nigh unbeatable and very much like the team that won Stanley Cups not too long ago. But when they've been off, they've looked like a team that needs to get unplugged and plugged back in again.

We get that this description could apply to any team, but having that happen in the playoffs can be the difference between winning and losing a series. With Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point leading the way with Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy, they have the all-world talent to win and go deep, but they've got to keep it 100 always, especially against Florida.

Florida: Sharpness

The Panthers stumbled their way into the playoffs. Even though they were virtually assured of a spot regardless, they didn't close the season looking strong. They lost seven of their final 10 games including a five-game losing streak that included four losses to playoff teams.

All of that misfortune occurred without Matthew Tkachuk, of course, who's been out since he was injured at the Four Nations Face-Off. He's looking like he'll be ready for Game 1 against Tampa Bay, but the question remains what kind of shape he'll be in. Getting him back will be a huge help, but the team on the whole needs a jolt back to reality if they're going to knock off the rival Lightning. We know they can go far because they've done it already, but not clicking well heading into the playoffs is a major concern.

Winnipeg: Scoring Depth

It's tough to pick out flaws of a team that just went up 2-0 in the series, but if the Jets are going to run into trouble, it could come from their offense. Injuries to Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers haven't affected their ability to win games just yet, but with the series moving to St. Louis, we'll see how that works out when they don't get the last change.

The Jets have Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti up front still so it's not like they're lacking, but it's the playoffs and you need to have everyone to have the advantage.

St. Louis: Depth, Period

It's really hard to argue about how the Blues have gotten things done down the stretch and into the playoffs. Coach Jim Montgomery has them playing great hockey and they've gotten elite play from Robert Thomas and Jordan Binnington. St. Louis has a real lack of depth that's been compensated for by its play, and it's tested further with Dylan Holloway injured.

The Blues fortunately have gotten rookie Jimmy Snuggerud into the lineup and producing and being able to roll with Thomas and Jordan Kyrou is nice. They could really use Pavel Buchnevich waking up if they're going to get back in the series, because all of their star players have to contribute or else.

Dallas: Health

Injuries are a part of life in the NHL, but for the Stars, having key injuries in this series against an equally outstanding Avalanche squad puts them at a disadvantage. With forward Jason Robertson and defenseman Miro Heiskanen still out of action, the Stars were able to avoid heading to Denver down 2-0 after pulling out an overtime victory in Game 2 thanks to Colin Blackwell.

Robertson and Heiskanen will be back at some point, but the Stars have to hope it's during this series to make sure they can survive the first round. Various teams have players out of action, but going without an offensive powerhouse and an elite defenseman would strain any of the best teams to the brink.

Colorado: Defense depth

Life is a lot better for the Avalanche having Cale Makar and Devon Toews on the blue line, but when it gets beyond those two things can be dicey.

Samuel Girard and Josh Manson are solid defenders while Ryan Lindgren and Erik Johnson fill out their ranks. It's a strong group with a clear set of roles, but the drop off from Makar and Toews to them is still dramatic. That Dallas' overtime winner came with Johnson on the ice was a rough break for the veteran, but was still telling.

The Avalanche can outscore most teams thanks to Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas, but if their defensive depth makes life hard for Mackenzie Blackwood, it'll be a fight in the playoffs.

Vegas: Focus

If there's a team that's really hard to find a flaw with how they do things, it's Vegas. They've got scoring throughout the lineup, role players who play it to the hilt, defense that does the same and strong goaltending. They won their division and earned a first-round matchup against a wild card team.

And yet, Game 1 showed that even though they were able to get ahead and suffocate the Wild for most of it, Minnesota was able to slink back into the game and make it tight in the third period. When Vegas won a couple years ago, they had a ruthless killer instinct. They're going to need that to make a return if they're going to win another Cup.

Minnesota: Special Teams

The Wild barely got across the line to make it to the playoffs after they had a great start to the season. Injuries played a big hand in that, especially losing Kirill Kaprizov for as long as they did, but it was their special teams that really got in their way all year long.

The Wild's power play was 20th in the league in the regular season and only two teams had worse penalty killing than they did (N.Y. Islanders and Detroit). Even though Vegas doesn't draw a lot of penalties, their power play scores when they do. Minnesota cannot afford to give away power play opportunities and then stress themselves out at 5-on-5 beyond that. It's an ominous setup for them and will wind up with a quick exit if they can't perform better now.

Los Angeles: Dealing with Connor McDavid

The Kings don't have a lot of cracks in their facade. Their all-around team is extremely good and they've been beasts at home this season. But if there's an issue they've had in the previous three playoffs, it's that the Oilers have Connor McDavid and they haven't been able to contain him.

McDavid nearly pulled off another miracle in Game 1 against the Kings as he helped them rally back from down 4-0 to tie the game 5-5 with under two minutes to play. Of course, Philip Danault put the Kings ahead with under a minute left to win a wild 6-5 game, but McDavid still had a goal and three assists and as good as the Kings are, they couldn't slow down Edmonton's captain. No one really can do that, we know, but the Kings have a shot to go deep this year and finally beat the Oilers and if they can't limit the damage he does it'll be a brutal way to go out.

Edmonton: Defense and Goaltending

The Oilers have always shown they can score at will, and last season we got to see what they can do when their defense and goaltending plays well. This season has been more of a flashback to previous seasons, however, in that things have been a bit leakier on the back end.

That issue was apparent in Game 1 and it's been made worse thanks to the injury to Mattias Ekholm. Stuart Skinner struggled, and the Oilers' penalty kill was fighting it without Ekholm to anchor it. The Kings are much better this year than they were the previous three seasons Edmonton squared off against them in the first round and without Ekholm and without Skinner playing like it was last season, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will have to do twice as much to make it stand up.