With the final four teams set, the matchups become even more magnified. As the Colorado Avalanche are set to take on the Vegas Golden Knights to earn a ticket into the Stanley Cup finals, here is a closer look at whose defense is stout enough to win a championship.
Colorado Avalanche
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Extra: Nick Blankenburg, Jack Ahcan, Alex Gagne?
To end the regular season head coach Jared Bednar experimented with his defense testing out Brett Kulak on the top
pair with Cale Makar and then Devon Toews on the second pair. That’s mostly been reversed as the trusty duo of Toews-Makar has played an extraordinary amount of minutes this postseason and have had great success at 61.50% of the expected goals together. Toews leads the Avalanche defense core with eight points and Makar hasn’t been quite as productive with five points, though four are goals.
For the rest of Colorado’s defense pairings it has been pretty mix-and-match especially due to the injuries. First to Josh Manson and then when he returned in Game 4 of the Wild series suddenly Sam Malinski was a surprise scratch with an upper-body injury. Brent Burns and Josh Manson played a lot together in the regular season and Brett Kulak saw the most time with Sam Malinski through the first seven playoff games, which are seemingly the ideal pairings.
With practice resuming ahead of the Vegas series, all eyes have been on the collection of Avalanche defensemen at practice, or lack thereof. Cale Makar only skates in games at this point, as expected. Now Brent Burns is suddenly absent and both Josh Manson and Sam Malinski have been limited in skates. Most, if not all four, should be available for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals according to Bednar. Still, there appears to be plans in case one of the aforementioned defenseman can’t suit up as Jack Ahcan was never sent back to the AHL and Colorado Eagles rookie Alex Gagne was a recent practice participant despite never having played in the NHL. This Avalanche defense core has already been stretched thin with just one absence the dominoes are set to tumble.
Vegas Golden Knights
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
Ben Hutton – Dylan Coghlan
Extra: Kaedan Korczak; Injured: Jeremy Lauzon
The big story on defense for the Golden Knights was the one-game suspension to Brayden McNabb but he’s expected back in the lineup for round three. Colorado fans know well of McNabb’s physical reputation and ill-advised hits but he’s grown into a large role with Vegas as part of their top pairing. He is also the top penalty killer for Vegas and scored shorthanded in the Anaheim series.
As the other portion of Vegas’ top pairing, Shea Theodore is also their leader on defense with nine points and four goals. He is the top power play quarterback and has scored a goal and three assists on the man advantage. Together with McNabb expect to see Theodore play a lot against Colorado’s top forwards.
On the second pair for Vegas is a due of defensemen for Vegas both acquired in trades from the Calgary Flames, first Noah Hanifin in 2024 and Rasmus Andersson just recently in January of this year. Hanifin has been the more productive one with six assists but both chip in on occasion. Even as a second pair these two play well over 20 minutes a night and figure to do so in this upcoming series with Colorado.
Veterans Dylan Coghlan and Ben Hutton round out the depth with 25-year-old graduated former prospect Kaedan Korczak filling in as needed. Another depth option, Jeremy Lauzon has been sidelined since early May after taking a puck to the head. All will have their hands full containing Colorado moving forward.
