We didn't really talk about the defense organization because I was saving it because

Brett Kulak now in Colorado will play in this game is paired with Sam Malinski at least on

the paper to start. Is that surprising to you? Not really. The aves have gotten unexpectedly,

Josh Manson has been so unbelievably good on the left that you just leave him with Burns and let him do his thing.

The reason they went out and got someone like Brett Kulak is to put him next to Sam Malinsky.

So when you play this six and you get into a game, look, 10 minutes into every game, you know if the Manson Burns experience is a good one or a bad one.

It's true.

When it's a bad one, a Kulak Malinski pairing is one you trust to play a little bit more and use them as the pseudo-second pairing when Manson and Burns isn't working. And it functions in a way where you have more trust. You did not trust the Sams together defensively. They were fun in the offensive zone. They were really fun offensively. A lot of good puck movement. But if you ask them to go into a corner and win a puck battle, you were in trouble. And that's what Brett Kulak can do for you and do for you on that pairing. When you get into playing against other teams, middle sixes, Kulak's not the type of guy that's going to blow people up, but he is the type of guy that can win puck battles for you. How does his role change? And obviously you guys went more in depth on the emergency pod. If you guys missed it, encourage you to go back and check that out at some point. Yep, great analysis from AJ on that. But like, is the role that he played going to be similar to what he's expected to do here?

Yeah, I think so.

He's probably going to, on average, play a little bit less.

He was certainly getting overused before he came to Pittsburgh.

And in Pittsburgh, he was still probably getting played more than he would be in Colorado unless it is a night where the the Manson Burns pairing sucks and he needs to kick

it up to 18, 19 minutes a night. But I think we should see a Kulak who should fit in just fine.

He's not a nightmare with the puck. He's not going to be a great puck mover. That's never what he's been. But he's not a guy that's going to regularly throw grenades. You're hoping he's a guy that avoids that big mistake in a way that guys like Gerard and Manson struggled with. You don't want him to give pizzas up the middle. But he should be set up to be a pretty pure defensive defenseman for Colorado.

And that's why you put him with someone like a Sam Malinsky who's having such a good

offensive year that you find some synergy there.

And you're not going to be asking Kulak to do too much.

Now Kulak is a pretty good skater, very smooth on his skates.

Sometimes guys like that get into this organization. And like Josh Manson, all of a sudden they find a little bit extra. Yeah. And if he finds that, great. But the abs don't need him to do that. So you're coming in and really the task for Kulak, stability, stability, stability. Just be consistent for the abs on this third pairing. Do the dirty stuff.

Yeah.

If they get that, they'll get what they want.

There's no secrets about what Brett Kulak does and who he is. The defense first is the name of the game for him. And that's why the abs went out and got him. I'm excited to see how this works out. It does kind of feel like the maybe move before a move,

...