Playoff Preview: Defense Wins Championships

Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesPlayoffs are right around the corner, and the Colorado Avalanche drew its seemingly inevitable matchup with the Dallas Stars. We’ve already previewed the forward matchup, so let’s dive in to the defense!

Dallas Projected Defense Pairs

Thomas Harley - Ilya Lyubushkin

Esa Lindell - Cody Ceci

Brendan Smith - Matt Dumba

Top Pair

You may have noticed Miro Heiskanen is not listed there - that’s because he’s going to be out for at least the first few games of the series as he continues to recover from knee surgery. The loss of Heiskanen has been a huge blow to a Dallas defense group that already looked thin on the right side, and without him the top pair is severely limited.…