The 2024-25 NHL regular season has certainly been a journey, between the emergence of unexpected Stanley Cup and MVP contenders, an incredible 4 Nations Face-Off, blockbuster trades, big winning streaks and, most recently, Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's record for career NHL goals.

But we all know the real hockey season starts April 19 when the puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs. With it will come the intensity and rugged play that we've come to expect over the years as teams make their quest for the Cup.

Oh, and there will also be pressure. Lots and lots of pressure.

To quantify exactly how much weight each team is under to win the Cup right now, I developed the Urgency Index. In it, every playoff team is graded on a 0-10 scale (relative to other playoff squads) in different categories representing reasons why they need to win ASAP:

-- Contender status (based on their Elo rating-based odds to win the Cup)

-- Market pressure (based on a combination of fanbase and market size)

-- Current Cup drought for the franchise

-- Recent playoff frustrations (based on total postseason wins over the past five years without a Cup)

-- Average roster age (where older = more pressure)

-- Contract urgency (average remaining years for the team's top three active players by goals above replacement before they hit free agency).

Since some situations imply more urgency to win than others, double weight has been added on the contender status, team age and market pressure categories and half-weight on the average free agent years remaining (since teams can often find a way to extend stars if they need to). Then, the totals have been added up to arrive at this semi-scientific ranking of the top playoff teams that have to win a championship this season -- or else.

More: ESPN's Stanley Cup playoff watch

Jump to a team:
Carolina | Dallas | Edmonton
Los Angeles | Minnesota | Tampa Bay
Toronto | Winnipeg | 8 more teams

1. Edmonton Oilers