The Vancouver Canucks’ return to action is just around the corner, but all the attention around the team over the next 11 days will be about any potential moves they make leading up to the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.

While the Canucks haven’t made a splash since the NHL Olympic roster freeze was lifted two days ago, a pair of playoff teams made a swap on Tuesday morning.

The Colorado Avalanche announced on social media that they had acquired defenceman Brett Kulak from the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenceman Sam Girard and a 2026 second-round pick.

Kulak began the season with the Edmonton Oilers, where he had just two assists in 31 games and saw his underlying defensive numbers at 5v5 decline. With the Oilers’ struggles in net, Kulak was packaged with Stuart Skinner and a 2029 second-round pick in exchange for Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin in mid-December.

Since joining the Penguins, Kulak has stepped up his play offensively, scoring one goal and six assists for seven points in 25 games, while seeing his defensive numbers improve at 5v5.

The left-shot defenceman will now join an Avalanche team that sits atop the NHL Standings with a 37-9-9 record this season. Kulak is in the final year of a four-year, $11 million contract he signed with the Oilers in the summer of 2022, which carries an affordable $2.75 million cap hit.

Girard, 27, has been a member of the Colorado Avalanche for nine seasons, where he has scored 36 goals and 196 assists for 232 points in 583 games. Before Colorado, Girard played five games for the Nashville Predators, where he scored one goal and three points.

The 5’10” defenceman was one of the (multiple) big pieces coming back to the Avalanche in what was a three-team blockbuster between them, the Predators, and the Ottawa Senators in 2017. Along with Girard, Colorado received Vladislav Kamenev and a 2018 second-round pick from Nashville (traded), and Shane Bowers, Andrew Hammond, a 2019 first-round pick (Bowen Byram) and a 2019 third-round pick (Matthew Stienburg) from Ottawa.

Colorado received that massive haul in exchange for Matt Duchene, who was sent to the Senators. Ottawa sent Kyle Turris to Nashville as a part of the deal as well.

Girard is in the second-last year of a seven-year, $35 million contract that carries a $5 million cap hit. The emergence of 27-year-old undrafted free agent Sam Malinski and the subsequent four-year, $4.75 million average annual value extension that came with it made Girard expendable long-term for the Avalanche.

In taking on an extra $2.25 million for this year and next, the Penguins maximize the value of their $10 million plus in cap space and were able to acquire an additional second-round pick in the process.

After the last two trades, Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas turned Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin into Stuart Skinner, Samuel Girard and two second-round picks. That level of asset management is something Canucks front office should be keeping tabs on and trying to replicate as they look to get through this rebuild as fast as possible.

The 2026 Trade Deadline Special is going LIVE March 6th. Join the Daily Faceoff crew on Friday, March 6th from 8 AM-12:30 PM PT for wall-to-wall coverage of every single move as it happens. Get instant reaction, expert analysis, and exclusive insights from special guests throughout the day. Tune in LIVE on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and don’t miss a second of deadline day chaos.