Justin Schultz is second among all Kraken players with three goals and eight points in 10 playoff games despite playing on the third pair. The ridiculous balance they have from lines one to four up front has been lauded so much that it’s easy to forget that they’re just as deep on the blue line. When the playoffs begin, head coaches typically restrict the bottom pair’s ice time. Here are 10 players in the 2023 playoffs who deserve more recognition, including at least one name for each team still alive. In other cases, they’re playing at the top of the lineup and have elevated their games but continue living in the shadow of teammates that are garnering the headlines. Who are these players on each remaining playoff team? In some cases, they’re bottom-of-the-lineup contributors who are dominating their minutes. These are the unsung heroes that are essential for a Stanley Cup push. It’s a world of a difference when your defensive players clutch up for an important penalty kill, or even swing the momentum with a short-handed goal.

It’s a world of a difference when you have a third pair that can play a reliable shift in overtime instead of anxiously praying that they don’t lose the game with a costly turnover on the rare occasion they step on the ice. It’s a world of a difference when you can trust your third or fourth line to take key defensive zone draws.

It’s a world of a difference when your second or third line chips in with some offence on the off night when your stars just don’t have it. And when the games become tight, you need your secondary players to hold the fort. Every core needs a strong supporting cast to go deep. Playoff storylines are understandably centered around the performance of teams’ big guns, but this isn’t the NBA where a couple of stars can singlehandedly will a team to a championship.

A world without heroes brandon mull