There’s the one that got away, and then there is Brett Kulak.
He didn’t get away so much as the Edmonton Oilers gave him away — quite literally — as part of a December deal that has to go down as one of the top three worst trades in the 2025-26 NHL season, if not the worst.
And just in case the Oilers forgot, Kulak was right back in their face again Monday night, helping his new team to a 2-1 shootout win, and his old one to a big ol’ heaping helping of humble pie.
“Kuley has quietly come in and he’s just, defensively, he’s kind of the human eraser out there,” said Avalanche assistant coach and Drayton Valley product Dave Hakstol. “He just goes out and takes care of plays and the pucks finds its way out of the zone.
“He’s so efficient in the way he defends and moves you out of the zone that he’s been really valuable. Great person, great human being in the dressing room, he’s fit in really well and very much a well-liked teammate.”
To be fair, the Oilers didn’t trade Kulak to the Avalanche. They’ve been the league’s frontrunners all season long, and hardly needed any of Edmonton’s help keeping a hold of that position all the way to the finish line of the regular season.
But they got it, in a sense.
After the team Edmonton traded Kulak to, the Pittsburgh Penguins, served up the defenceman on the trade block in February, the Avs, seeing a solid roster addition fresh off back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, wasted no time plucking him up, thank you very much.
They gave Pittsburgh a 2028 second-round draft pick and defenceman Samuel Girard, for their troubles, while the Penguins had already gained goaltender Stuart Skinner and a 2029 second-round draft pick from Edmonton. Removing Kulak from either side of the equation to simplify the math, all the Penguins had to give up in the trades was goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Sam Poulin.
Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak waves to the crowd after a brief tribute video at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Kulak was traded from the Oilers earlier this season in the goalie swap with Pittsburgh.
Edmonton, meanwhile, ended up with a goaltender who has put up worse numbers here than Skinner did this season, and a hole in their defensive corps they would go on to fill at the trade deadline with Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Connor Murphy — an addition that cost them another second-round draft pick, this time from 2028.
Two second-round draft picks just to swap second-pairing defencemen (that’s where Murphy’s currently playing in Edmonton and Kulak’s playing in Colorado), and downgrade a starting goaltender (in Skinner) to a backup (in Jarry)? It’s no wonder the Oilers are about the furthest things from heavy favourites to claim the Western Conference this year and return for another run at the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Avalanche, with their 115 points already more than enough to secure the President’s Trophy heading into this, the final week of the regular season, are on the other hand, heavily favoured indeed.
“A hundred per cent. We say it’s an ideal situation when you move,” Kulak said from the visitors’ dressing room of Rogers Place following Monday’s morning skate. “We couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
He had to move twice to get there, of course. And in the span of three months, no less, since initially being traded out of his hometown of Edmonton.
“There’s been big moments the last couple years and a lot of (playoff) experience,” Kulak said. “This is a team where the expectation is to win the Cup. I feel like I can bring a lot of experience, especially with the last couple years.
“It’s fresh for me and I know the style of play it requires to win the game in the playoffs.”
That doesn’t mean it was easy to pick up and move away in the first place, however.
“It was an emotional day for the family,” Kulak said. “Obviously, my wife and kids, for sure, got pretty attached to the Oilers. And even growing up just outside the city, it affects a lot of different people. It was a weird day for us and it still feels a little weird.
“It had kind of come out of the blue, for sure. I didn’t expect it, that’s for sure. It’s tough to kind of get blindsided like that, but it is what it is and I am happy to be where I am.”
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On X: @StarkRavinMod
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