The NHL is back and the Olympic break roster freeze was lifted. It didn't take long for action to pick up as the Colorado Avalanche traded defenceman Samuel Girard and a 2^nd round pick in 2028 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenceman Brett Kulak, per Evan Rawal.

Kulak is in the final year of his deal with a full-season cap hit of $2.75-million while Girard has one year left with a cap hit of $5-million. Girard will be going into his age-29 season when he hits free agency.

Let's break it down.

What Pittsburgh Gets

When he was at his best a couple of years ago, Girard was a second-pair defenceman who could take secondary matchups and drive the play:

A big problem for Girard has been staying healthy. The season represented in that graphic was 2023-24, a season where he missed 23 games. He missed 15 games back in 2021-22 and has already missed 15 games this campaign. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Girard has missed 18% of his team's regular season games, or about 15 games per year. That doesn't include his being hurt halfway through the second round of Colorado's Stanley Cup run in 2022 and missing the rest of the postseason.

When Girard is healthy and playing well, he can be solid defensively and chip in offensively – he averaged 32 points every 82 games from 2021-2025. Leaving Colorado will put him in a worse position offensively, and the Penguins have 26 games remaining. If he can put up 10 points in those final 26 games, it will be a success.

Girard also doesn't put up huge peripherals. Just 1 of his last 5 seasons has seen him average over a hit per game, he's never had a season with 80 hits, and his best year for blocks was 2023-24 when he averaged 1.7 per game. That is good, but not elite. Additionally, he has never had a season with 1.6 shots per game and has been at 1.3 shots per game or less for three straight years.

There will be deeper fantasy formats where Girard will have some streaming value, but this is a player who falls into the 'Better in Real Life Than Fantasy' bucket. He should see his ice time rise in Pittsburgh, and he provides a bit of security for next season on an aging roster, but the upside is still low.

What Colorado Gets

At first blush, this seems like a way of shedding salary without meaningfully changing the roster. The Avalanche still have Cale Makar, Devon Toews, and Josh Manson signed, and they recently extended Sam Malinski. Even if Brent Burns retires, the Avalanche will have their top two pairs back next season, with $5-million less owed on the third pair.

Kulak's final season and a half in Edmonton were a borderline disaster but he turned his play around in Colorado and started performing like he did in the early parts of his Oilers tenure. He has a bit more offensive penchant than Girard does, but he's effectively a Girard 2.0 as far as fantasy is concerned: can put up 1-1.5 shots per game, 1.5 blocks per game, has low hit rates, and can chip in some points. Like Girard has been this season, Kulak is a streamer in deep formats and that's about it.

What this does is open a roster spot for Mikhail Gulyayev next season. The 20-year-old defence prospect is currently signed with Avangard Omsk in the KHL, but his contract reportedly runs out at the end of this season. He hasn't been a dominant force in the KHL production-wise, but he's a high-skill prospect and now there's a clear path for him to be on the roster for 2026-27.

Who This Helps

Sam Malinski

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Mikhail Gulyayev

Who This Hurts

Samuel Girard

Ryan Graves

Ryan Shea