Brett Kulak Traded to Avalanche from Penguins amid 2026 NHL Deadline Rumors, Full Details

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche are swapping defensemen ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline.

The Penguins are trading Brett Kulak to the Avalanche in exchange for Samuel Girard and a second-round pick in the 2028 draft.

Kulak, acquired by the Penguins as part of the Tristan Jarry trade in December, is playing his age-32 season on an expiring contract with a cap hit of $2.75 million.

Girard, 27, is signed through the 2026-27 season on a $5 million AAV contract.

Kulak served both as a key penalty killer and a second-pair defenseman alongside Kris Letang in his three months with the Penguins.

He will depart Pittsburgh having averaged 20:20 per game through 25 contests with the Penguins.

Girard, who was skating in his ninth season with the Avs, had seen the lowest ice time of his Colorado career prior to the trade.

After missing stretches of time with injuries, Girard had seen his ice time drop to 17:41 per game often as a third-pairing partner with Sam Malinski.

He also saw time on the penalty kill and contributed 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 40 games.

At his peak, Girard has been a strong offensive contributor for the Avs. The blueliner posted six 20-goal seasons with the franchise, most recently including 21 tallies in 2024-25.

The Penguins could now hope a change of scenery could help Girard get back to his past levels of production in Pittsburgh.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas will also add another draft pick to one of the largest stockpiles in the NHL ahead of an upcoming rebuild in the post-Sidney Crosby era.

Trading Jarry, who is signed at a $5.375 million AAV through 2028, ultimately allowed Dubas to bring in Girard and goaltender Stuart Skinner alongside second-round picks in 2028 and 2029.

The Avalanche meanwhile remove a contract from their books for 2026 while gaining $2.25 million in net cap space with the trade, per PuckPedia.

That could be key to the Avs' deadline moves given that the team is projected to have just $8.7 million in current cap space by PuckPedia.

The NHL trade window closes March 6 at 3 p.m. ET. Both the Avalanche and Penguins, who were in playoff spots ahead of the NHL's break for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, could now use their cap space and picks to make more moves ahead of the deadline.