Looking at Dallas's Defensive Depth after Boston Claims Vladislav Kolyachonok off Waivers

A dearth of defensive depth in Dallas? Why, I never.

Losing a player is almost always a disappointment for an organization. Whether that departure happens because of an injury, a trade, or an inability to agree on a new contract, a team almost always acquires a player because at some point, they thought that player could help them. Thus, when the team loses that player, it usually hurts, at least a little bit.

That can even be true in cases where the team is the one to jettison the player. Losing Ryan Suter as a result of a buyout two summers ago, for instance, did end up hurting at least a little bit, and even more so after it became clear that Chris Tanev wasn’t going to re-sign with Dallas. Suddenly, Jim Nill had multiple holes to fill on a Stanley Cup contending roster, and that led to them settling for relatively high-priced secondary options like Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin, with Brendan Smith as extra depth.

Smith lost his coach’s trust early on, and Lyubushkin ended up getting healthy-scratched for the last four games of the playoffs—all of which the Stars lost.