On Wednesday night, the conference final round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs will kick off as the the Colorado Avalanche host the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena.

The Golden Knights blueline will feature Rasmus Andersson, a second-round selection by the Calgary Flames from the 2015 NHL Draft that played 584 games for the club before being traded to Vegas in January. And on the other side will be Brett Kulak, a fourth-round pick by the Flames from the 2012 NHL Draft who played 101 games for the Flames before being traded in 2018.

Pretty quietly, Kulak has turned into one of the most prolific playoff performers in the NHL.

When he takes the ice for Game 1 on Wednesday, Kulak will be playing his 98th playoff game since the start of the 2021 post-season – only Corey Perry, with 99, has more playoff appearances in that span. He’ll also be making his fifth trip to the conference final round over the past six seasons.

Kulak took awhile to find his stride in the NHL. Drafted from the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants, his four pro seasons in the Flames system saw him spend time with the ECHL’s Colorado Eagles and AHL’s Abbotsford Heat, Adirondack Flames and Stockton Heat before becoming a full-time NHLer in 2017-18.

In the summer of 2018, Kulak and the Flames were at odds over his next contract, so the restricted free agent filed for salary arbitration. Things got a bit contentious, to the point where Kulak was placed on waivers – in July – as a bit of a negotiating tactic. Kulak was given a one year, one-way arbitration award (with $900,000 salary) but was traded to Montreal before the regular season started in exchange for minor leaguers Matt Taormina and Rinat Valiev.

(At the time, Juuso Valimaki was making a push for an opening night roster spot and on paper, it made sense to move on from Kulak rather than risk losing him on waivers for nothing. That said… the return the Flames received for a player who had shown himself to be a rock-solid third pairing defender as a rookie was underwhelming, and looks even worse in retrospect given how Valimaki and Kulak’s careers have gone.)

Kulak spent a few seasons with Montreal, refining his game until he was a really good third-pairing defender (who could be relied-upon to play up the rotation if needed). He moved onto Edmonton, where he spent a few seasons, and briefly spent time in Pittsburgh this season before joining the Avalanche prior to the trade deadline. He ended up scoring the goal that sent Colorado into the conference finals.

Is Kulak a Norris Trophy contender? Nope. He’s probably best suited for life on the third pairing, to be honest. But he’s refined his craft over the years to the point where he’s a really consistent, reliable, clutch third-pairing defender. And he’s in the midst of his fifth long playoff run in the past few years.

We’ll see if this one ends with Kulak taking part in a parade.