With the NHL Olympic pause now officially concluded and the regular season set to recommence tomorrow, the Colorado Avalanche have finalized a player exchange before the official trade deadline arrives just over a week from now, on March 6. The Avalanche have dispatched Samuel Girard and a 2028 second-round draft selection to the Pittsburgh Penguins, acquiring defenseman Brett Kulak in return.
Kulak was previously moved from the Edmonton Oilers to Pittsburgh earlier in the current season, as part of the Stuart Skinner transaction. The 32-year-old blueliner has participated in 25 contests for the Penguins to date, registering seven points across those appearances. At this juncture in his career, he is broadly recognized as a supplementary defensive asset, and it is anticipated that he will either occupy a slot on Colorado’s third defensive pairing or serve as a seventh defenseman, available for occasional insertion into the lineup as circumstances demand.
Kulak’s integration into Colorado’s roster was a logical consideration; we even highlighted him among our potential Avalanche trade targets last week, especially given the frequent transactional history between Colorado and Pittsburgh recently. The prospect of securing him solely for a second-round pick would have been a considerable outlay; the inclusion of Girard in the deal renders this exchange quite imbalanced. With Girard now bound for Pittsburgh, Sam Malinski is likely to see an increase in playing time, as Girard no longer provides a consistent presence. An additional aspect of this move is that Colorado has generated further salary cap flexibility through this transaction.
Kulak is currently in the final year of a four-year agreement, carrying an average annual value (AAV) of $2,750,000. Girard’s contract held an AAV of $5,000,000, with one year remaining, thereby providing the Avalanche with $8,741,926 in cap space following this maneuver, which was clearly aimed at shedding Girard’s salary. This represents a respectable amount of cap room to execute an additional move or two prior to next week’s trade deadline, so it will be interesting to observe if the Avalanche have any other plans in motion. Given that contending teams typically reinforce their defensive corps, with the objective being to augment rather than diminish it, another roster adjustment is expected to be in the pipeline.
