The Colorado Avalanche answered questions about their defense Friday by re-signing Brett Kulak and Brent Burns.
Kulak signed a five-year deal worth $4.5 million annually. Burns returns on a one-year pact worth $850,000 that could reach up to $2 million because of performance bonuses, a source told ESPN.
Colorado acquired Kulak last season in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins, adding an experienced player with size on the back end. The 6-foot-2 Kulak averaged 19:08 in ice time during his 27 regular-season games with the Avalanche and 20:37 during the playoffs.
The 41-year-old Burns, who is still in search of his first Stanley Cup in what is likely to be a Hall of Fame career, finished with 12 goals and 35 points while averaging 18:52 in ice time over 82 games. The NHL's active iron man had four points while averaging 18:09 in ice time during the playoffs.
Getting Kulak and Burns signed to new deals are the latest moves in what has been a busy offseason for the Avalanche.
There were questions about what Colorado would do with its defensive core given that it had two-time Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Josh Manson and Sam Malinski under contract while the quartet featuring Burns and Kulak, among others, were unrestricted free agents.
Re-signing Kulak came with the idea that the Avalanche would need to shed cap space to retain him and make any potential adjustments to a group that won the Presidents' Trophy but was swept in the Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights.
It started June 16 when they traded forward Ross Colton in the final year of his $4 million deal to the Nashville Predators. The deal also marked the first trade for Chris MacFarland, who was the Avalanche's general manager before he was hired by the Predators to be their GM and team president. That led to Avalanche team president Joe Sakic, who was their general manager when they won the Stanley Cup back in 2022, returning to those duties in addition to his role as president.
Sakic cleared more cap space Thursday when he traded forward Valeri Nichushkin and his four-year deal worth $6.13 million annually to the Columbus Blue Jackets to create the needed space to comfortably take on Kulak and Burns with the flexibility to do more.
PuckPedia projects the Avalanche have $5.629 million in remaining cap space before NHL free agency begins Wednesday.