The Colorado Avalanche have announced they have re-signed Brent Burns to a one-year deal worth $850 thousand. Still, he can earn just over $2 million in performance bonuses, and Brett Kulak to a five-year deal worth $22.50 million with a $4.5 million AAV. Both contracts come with no trade protection. 

After being acquired by the Avalanche from the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he had one goal and six assists for seven points, he finished with three assists in 27 regular-season games with the Avalanche. While the production was lower than his time with the Penguins, the playoffs were where he really shone. In 13 games, he had one goal and five assists, with that one goal coming against the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 as the game-winner.

Despite the offensive numbers, Kulak's game is all about what he does on the defensive side of the ice, and it really showed. Paired with Sam Malinski, Kulak delivered a quality defensive pairing that showed great offensive play from Malinski and allowed him to show off his skills while having a reliable defensive structure with Kulak in case of any mistakes, something Malinski has struggled with at times when paired with other defensemen.

Playing just over 19 minutes a game last season, there were times when they needed him more to hold onto leads and help kill penalties on the penalty kill, where there were games where he played less because they were behind, so they ran Malinski and Makar more for the offensive push.

Burns joined last offseason and finished with 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points. In the playoffs, he finished with four assists in 13 games. For what was, at the time, a relatively small signing, often seen as a 6-7 man in the defensive pairings, Burns at times showed his importance to the team. 

Though at times his age did show, especially on the defensive end, where he would either be beaten by a faster player or make a defensive mistake, compared with his AAV and production, there were often bigger faults than the ones he made.

Entering his 23rd NHL season, he would tie for ninth place in most seasons played in league history, joining players like longtime teammate Patrick Marleau, Ron Francis, and Al MacInnis.

With this move, the Avalanche now round out their defense with the same players as last season and have $5.6 million in cap space to either spend in free agency or make a trade. With the 2026 NHL Entry Draft tonight, we shall see if the Avalanche make any other moves with the draft capital and cap space they have.