This year's WC will be a bloodbath. There are multiple teams that will consider a first round loss to be catastrophic.
Colorado loaded up and with their talent and lack of deep runs. They are perceived to have a true contender team as they just won in 2022 so a first round exit is very bad.
Los Angeles has made a lot of moves, sacrificing a lot of assets and signing multiple bigger deals and lost twice in a row already, in the first round, to Edmonton. FO gets cleared out if they lose in the first round.
Edmonton having the two best offensive players and losing twice in the second round the last two years, losing in the first round would be extremely damaging both to the front office and the key players on the team.
Vegas is the most loaded up of all of the teams. If they lost in the first round, that would be nuts.
Vancouver is having the most successful regular season in a long time. Likely they will lose early as that's fairly normal for teams with new found regular season success to falter in the playoffs. Hopefully they keep it together and not burn any villages down.
A few other teams like Dallas and St. Louis will be in the mix but not under super-high pressure. I think of all the teams who are playing well but are somewhat low pressure is Winnipeg. They could have the same issue as the Canucks or they could go the other way too.
If this iteration of the Hawks made the playoffs, I'd be gobsmackingly happy even if we got easily swept.
Better to tank I think. Bedard needs A LOT of help.