Size, length on defense go long way to determining Stanley Cup hopes

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2025-26 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. 

In this edition, Drew Bannister, former coach of the St. Louis Blues and Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, and defenseman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers, provides his insight into what type of playing style he feels is best suited for success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Looking at past Stanley Cup winners, and especially those teams who were strong on the back end, having length and size really wears down the opposition, especially when you get late into the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.

This seems to be the way teams are going. You look at the Florida Panthers, the Vegas Golden Knights, the St. Louis Blues ... their model of big and long on the back end and not allowing a lot of time and space works. It seems to be the recipe for success at the moment, but you've also seen strong transition teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning win, although they also had some big, long defensemen who played a lot of minutes. But Tampa Bay was a transition team that could hurt you on the attack.

Obviously, the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes are having a lot of success but I would also say Carolina has a big group of defensemen and they're very mobile. They're not an easy group and certainly the way they play with limiting time and space ... it's tough to get through.

I don't want to say it goes year by year, but you definitely see a pattern of teams when they are having some measure of success and are building their team through that mold. It does go in waves. I do find that, right now, the bigger, longer, heavier teams are having the success.

I think the thing those heavier teams are doing well is playing strong through the neutral zone. You look at Vegas and how well it has clogged up the neutral zone against Colorado and it's not only disrupted the rush, but the forecheck. The Golden Knights get in people's way, too. They don't let anybody skate by and they play on top of you. If you're going to go anywhere, you've got to go through them because it's tough to get around them. When you do get around them, that gives the defense an extra second to get back to a puck and get his feet up forward, get his eyes looking forward to make transition plays out of the zone. I think that's the biggest thing ... just how teams defend in their neutral zone and allow their defense to get back to pucks earlier to give them that split-second to make the decisions.

The neutral zone right now seems to be one of the most important zones in the game and a focus on how you can disrupt other teams forecheck and their attack.

At the end of the day, you have to play below the tops of circles and spend extended time in the offensive zone to wear teams down. I think goalies are so good that they're able to make the first save, and teams can collapse and protect against second opportunities off the rush. You need to catch goalies on off nights. There aren't many times when you're going to have multiple nights where a goalie has an off night during the playoffs. If they are, they probably haven't gotten that far.

I think you must have sustainable offensive zone time in the playoffs. It can't be a one-and-done kind of situation where you go down, take a shot and then it's coming back the other way pretty quick. You have to gain momentum by playing in the offensive zone and wearing the other team's defense down.

Vegas has kind of built upon its game since making the coaching change to John Tortorella and, for whatever reason, the Golden Knights have dialed their game in.

Really, you have to go back to how well Vegas has played in the neutral zone. I don't think it's changed anything in the defensive zone because, as a big and strong group, it has always been a tough team to play against. The Golden Knights have made some moves on their back end over the last two years, whether it's Rasmus Andersson or Noah Hanifin, who are each big bodies who can skate, defend well, and move pucks. You're seeing some players that might not have had great endings to their season, who are now really picking their game up and playing really well. But at the end of the day, their top players are their top players. 

Forward Mark Stone comes back into the lineup after missing a few games and scores. Forward Mitch Marner continues to play really well, and center Jack Eichel, who was playing well but not contributing a lot offensively, has kind of taken off. Forward Ivan Barbashev is chipping in. Forward Tomas Hertl was struggling prior to the series against Colorado but scored a big goal (in a 5-3 win in Game 3). The Golden Knights are finding other avenues to score and some of the players who were struggling a bit seem to be finding their game right now, and that's dangerous.

I want to add that health also plays a part in playoff success. It gets to the point where it is a battle of attrition. I don't think any team gets to this point without having injuries, but it comes down to how severe those injuries are, and is a team can maintain how they want to play without those players. I think when players start dropping out of the lineup, it's tough to continue to play the way you want to have success, especially when they're important players. You're not going to replace a defenseman like Cale Makar (in Colorado), but it goes both ways.

I think the team that's banged up more has a harder time getting to the finish line.