Stanley Cup Final Preview: Defense wins championships

Ryan McDonagh is the key to Tampa’s defense corpsThe Tampa Bay Lightning’s back-to-back championships and pursuit of a third this season have made household names out of forwards Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov and put goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy on some pundits’ goaltending Mt. Rushmore. But, every season, this team’s engine has been an elite group of defensemen led by former Norris Trophy winner and current finalist - along with our boy Cale Makar and that Predators guy who disappeared a month or so ago - Victor Hedman.

Hedman remains a dominant force at 31 years old and absolutely deserves to come in third for the Norris this year, but he’s not even the guy playing the toughest minutes…