{"id":492650,"date":"2026-06-26T14:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=492650"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:08:24","slug":"colorado-avalanche-signings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/26\/colorado-avalanche-signings\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Avalanche Make a Pair of Defensive Signings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Colorado Avalanche have taken care of two pieces of business heading into the weekend. News emerged that defencemen <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kulakbr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brett Kulak<\/a> and <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/burnsbr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brent Burns<\/a> have signed deals to stay with the club. These Colorado Avalanche signings will keep the pair with the club.<\/p>\n<p>Kulak&#8217;s deal is for five years and a <a  href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/brett-kulak\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">total of $22.5 million<\/a>. This deal runs through the end of 2030-21 season and has an average cap hit of $4.5 million. Burns will have a one-year deal worth $850,000. However, he can make over $2 million in performance bonuses. This information came via The Athletic&#8217;s Pierre LeBrun.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:7tqayl5o3gftkv4f6vwbxi6h\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mp7ieapapc2t\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreidt76gh27jwjxpln2jxf2pfthnv3fukmhlqgoboxzji2w5go7honu\">\n<p lang=\"en\">Avs have re-signed both Brett Kulak and Brent Burns. Kulak gets a 5 year deal and Burns is back for 1.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; <a  href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:7tqayl5o3gftkv4f6vwbxi6h?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Rawal (@evanrawal.bsky.social)<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:7tqayl5o3gftkv4f6vwbxi6h\/post\/3mp7ieapapc2t?ref_src=embed\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2026-06-26T17:38:42.234Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Colorado Avalanche Signings Help Keep Defence Together<\/h2>\n<p>Kulak has played for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/23\/flames-simon-nemec-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">Calgary Flames<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/26\/nhl-rumours-montreal-canadiens-aggressively-working-the-phones-heading-into-the-draft\/\" target=\"_self\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/23\/oilers-hire-mike-babcock\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a>, and the Avalanche across his 12-year NHL career. The Edmonton native had a goal and 11 assists for 12 points in 83 games played between the Oilers, Penguins, and Avalanche in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n<p>Burns has played for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/09\/michael-mccarron-extension\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Wild<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/17\/sabres-kesselring-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">San Jose Sharks,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/06\/14\/2026-stanley-cup-final-recap\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, and the Avalanche over his 22-year NHL career. The Barrie, Ontario native had 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 82 games last season. Burns currently has an iron man streak of 1,007 consecutive games, which only trails <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kesseph01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Phil Kessel<\/a>&#8216;s 1,064 straight games.<\/p>\n<p>Both players were set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1. However, president and general manager <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sakicjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Sakic<\/a> made sure that both players didn&#8217;t hit the open market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBqFj1mXR9\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5184px; aspect-ratio: 5184\/3350;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><em>(Credit Image: \u00a9 Thurman James\/Cal Sport Media)<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>What It Means<\/h3>\n<p>Colorado made it to the Western Conference Finals before losing to Vegas. Kulak was a solid addition this season and Burns seemingly turned back the clock with his play. Burns may be the oldest player in the league, but he&#8217;s still playing like a valuable player.<\/p>\n<p>The Avalanche have a strong defence with <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/makarca01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cale Makar<\/a> on the backend. Colorado hasn&#8217;t won a Stanley Cup since 2022, but the team has plenty of talent to break through. However, they&#8217;ll need to find a way out of the tough Western Conference.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Colorado Avalanche have taken care of two pieces of business heading into the weekend. News emerged that defencemen Brett Kulak and Brent Burns have signed deals to stay with the club. These Colorado Avalanche signings will keep the pair with the club. Kulak&#8217;s deal is for five years and a total of $22.5 million. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":489263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4547,34,4548],"tags":[333,3554,5781,2001,662],"class_list":["post-492650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-brent-burns","tag-brett-kulak","tag-colorado-avalanche-news","tag-joe-sakic","tag-nhl-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492659,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492650\/revisions\/492659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}