Carolina's third pair currently has Orlov, and Colorado's has Byram so I disagree.
I like Kulak and Vinny, but I think some other teams are deeper on D.
And yet, Edmontons 3rd pair is doing better.
Edmonton is running a pretty balanced roll out of d vs elites.
Kulak and Desharnais are playing 27% of their time against elites. They have a 52% corsi, roughly a 42% GF% and a 53% DFF.
Orlov is more sheltered playing a 22% against elites, a 47.6 DFF%, 53% corsi 40% GF.
Byram is at 26% against elites, 48% corsi, 49% DFF and a 58% GF
So Byram is playing better than them for sure but Orlov is definitely more sheltered and not quite doing as well.
Desharnais ranks 36th against elites this year and Kulak ranks 6th (Bouchard and Ekholm are 1 and 2)
A lot of Bouchard and Ekholms success is the amount that we have been able to NOT shelter Kulak and Desharnais. We don't even have a defender in the top 100 of time against elites this year.
AT the end of the day, Kulak and Desharnais good play this year (we can say they don't pass the eye test but analytically, they absolutely do) is why the other pairings have been doing so well. Which imho highlights even more how Ceci is the weak spot.