Pens trade Brett Kulak to Avalanche for Samuel Girard and 2028 second‑round pick
The Pittsburgh Penguins traded brett kulak to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday afternoon in exchange for defenseman Samuel Girard and a 2028 second‑round draft pick. The move matters now because it swaps a pending free agent for a multi‑year contract and further increases the Penguins’ stockpile of draft selections.
Samuel Girard’s contract, age and recent production
Samuel Girard, 27, joins Pittsburgh under a contract that runs through the 2026‑27 season and carries an average annual value of $5 million. This season he has three goals, nine assists and 12 points with a plus‑12 rating in 40 games. Girard is a 2022 Stanley Cup champion and is currently in his ninth NHL season after splitting his career between the Colorado Avalanche and the Nashville Predators.
Girard’s career totals, size and junior pedigree
The 5‑foot‑10, 170‑pound defenseman has 37 goals, 198 assists and 235 points in 588 career NHL games, plus three goals, 25 assists and 28 points in 67 career playoff games. His best professional season came in 2022‑23 when he posted six goals, 31 assists and 37 points in 76 games with the Avalanche. Prior to turning professional, Girard played three seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Shawinigan Cataractes from 2014‑17, registering 24 goals, 168 assists and 192 points in 190 junior games. He earned league‑wide honors in each of those three seasons: Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2015, Defenseman of the Year in 2016, Most Sportsmanlike Player in 2016 and First All‑Star Team honors in 2016 and 2017. The Roberval, Quebec native was drafted in the second round, 47th overall, of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators.
Kyle Dubas’s cap strategy and how Girard fits the Penguins
General manager Kyle Dubas continues to use Pittsburgh’s salary cap space as a strategic asset. Given the salary cap space the Penguins have at their disposal for next season, taking on Girard’s $5 million contract is not a big deal for them. Girard is a left‑shot, puck‑moving defenseman under contract for next season, and the team sees the addition as a potential upgrade to the blue line both this season and next.
Why Colorado moved Girard and what they gave up
The trade functions as a salary‑management move for the Avalanche: it is described in the coverage as pretty clearly a salary dump for Colorado. Brett Kulak is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season, and Colorado was the team giving up the 2028 second‑round pick to persuade Pittsburgh to assume the remainder of Girard’s contract. The Avalanche appear to have cleared space they could use for something else — perhaps another big move to add forward depth — and what they do next will be closely watched.
Brett Kulak, Tristan Jarry and the draft capital cascade
The Penguins acquired brett kulak from the Avalanche in this swap; Kulak had been a solid addition for Pittsburgh during his brief time with the club. With the inclusion of the 2028 second‑round pick, Pittsburgh now has multiple second‑round picks in each of the next four drafts and multiple third‑round picks in each of the next three drafts. Over the next four draft classes the Penguins will have 20 draft picks in the first three rounds and 34 draft picks across the next four NHL drafts, which includes 20 selections in the first three rounds. No team has more selections over the first three rounds in the next four drafts than the Penguins, a net gain the coverage frames as eight more picks in those rounds.
The transaction also traces back to the Tristan Jarry deal earlier this season: Pittsburgh initially acquired Kulak, along with goalie Stuart Skinner and a 2029 second‑round pick, from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Jarry. With the Girard trade now complete, the Penguins have effectively turned Jarry and his contract into Stuart Skinner, Samuel Girard and two second‑round draft picks. Jarry had been on waivers a year ago, then playing in the American Hockey League and carrying what was described as a completely unmovable contract; the club’s series of moves is presented as having made that situation manageable while coming out ahead both now and in the future. The coverage also notes that Girard is signed for fewer years than Jarry is, and when asked about the precise timing of when Jarry’s contract comes off the books the context is unclear in the provided context.
What the extra picks can do for Pittsburgh
The additional draft capital is portrayed as serving two functions: adding more prospects into the system for the ongoing rebuild and creating assets that can be flipped in trades. The coverage explicitly names Egor Chinakhov as an example of the kind of player a team can find through draft or trade activity, and frames the new pick as another tool the Penguins can use in a playoff push or longer‑term roster construction without depleting current prospects.
