Avalanche sign Burns, Kulak to extensions
The Colorado Avalanche have a bit more insurance for their defensive depth next season, as they announced on Friday that they have signed defensemen Brent Burns and Brett Kulak to contract extensions.
Burns is signed to a one-year, $850,000 contract, while Kulak will make $4.5 million per season for the next five years.
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Before the extensions, the Avalanche had only four NHL defensemen signed for next season, so ideally they would look to retain some of their blueline depth from last season. After clearing out some cap space by dealing Ross Colton, Jack Drury and Valeri Nichushkin, the Avalanche had plenty of room to re-sign Burns and Kulak.
Burns was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the conclusion of his one-year, $1 million contract with the Avalanche. His deal comes with performance bonuses that could total up to $2.15 million, although the actual conditions of the bonuses are not known at this point.
Burns is coming off of a bounce back season with the Avalanche, one where he played well in a lower role in the lineup compared to where he played in with the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite the lower role, he still produced with 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 82 games, although that production did dip to just four assists in 13 playoff games.
Kulak was set to be a UFA after the conclusion of his four-year contract with a $2.75 million cap hit. His new deal comes with a $1 million signing bonus in the first season, and will have salaries of $5, $5.3, $4, $3.6 and $3.6 million over the course of the five seasons. The contract also has a no-trade clause through the first three seasons, and then becomes a 15-team no-trade clause for the final two years. His closest contract comparables are Chris Tanev, Cody Ceci, Ryan Graves, Ryan Lindgren, Jake McCabe and Rasmus Sandin.
Kulakās production was on the lower side in 2025-26, as he had just one goal and 11 assists for 12 points in 83 games. However, that could be chalked up to how much he moved around, as he started the year with the Edmonton Oilers, and after he was moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins in December as part of the return for Tristan Jarry, the Avalanche acquired him at the trade deadline a few months later. He did see his production increase in the playoffs, as he had one goal and four assists for five points in 13 games.
Colorado now has a projected $5,629,159 in salary cap space after all the trades and signings from this week, with 12 UFAs and six restricted free agents highlighted by Nick Blankenburg.