Meet the Team – Brett Kulak
While the roster is far from set, we’re running a new feature giving you, the fans, an opportunity to get to know players that we could see suiting up for Stockton this season or in future seasons.
Assistant captain Brett Kulak improved his personal stats in each season he played for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.
Today we feature defenseman Brett Kulak.
Kulak is a name that should be familiar to Stockton hockey fans, as he spent the majority of the 2014-15 season with the Calgary Flames’ former ECHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.
The 21-year-old defenseman played 9 games against the Stockton Thunder and finished the year with 4 assists and a plus-10 rating versus Stockton.
His ECHL totals were solid too, racking up 30 points (9 goals, 21 assists) and a plus-9 rating in 39 games.
Kulak also spent a good portion of the season in the AHL with the Adirondack Flames, where he played 26 games and registered 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists). It was his first full season in the professional ranks after finishing his junior career in the Western Hockey League with the Vancouver Giants.
While in Vancouver, Kulak amassed 128 points (35 goals, 93 assists) in 216 games and improved his stats every year he was there.
His career high came in his final season with the Giants in 2013-14, when as the assistant captain, he emerged as one of the top offensive threats along the blueline in the entire league, putting up 60 points (14 goals, 46 assists) in just 69 games which tied him eighth in the WHL among defenseman for points.
Calgary Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau, right, celebrates his goal with teammate Brett Kulak during second period NHL pre-season hockey action against the Colorado Avalanche in Calgary, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014.
The former 2012 fourth-round pick of the Calgary Flames has established himself as a dangerous scoring threat on every blueline he has ever manned, highlighted by his half point-per-game average last season at the AHL level.
Kulak is one of only four players in Colorado Eagles history to get the call-up to the NHL and play in both the NHL with the Flames and the ECHL during the same season.
You saw why the Flames liked him enough to call him up if you watched the first game of the Young Stars Classic last weekend, as Kulak had the first scoring chance of the entire tournament when he powered around a defender on a rush he joined and just missed beating the goaltender on a backhand-forehand move across the crease.
It’s that type of offensive ability and willingness to join the rush that makes Kulak not just valuable asset 5-on-5, but a quarterback on the power play as well.
He skates extremely well and has the awareness to find teammates in the offensive zone.
Puck-moving defensemen are the future of that position and Kulak’s skills make his potential arrival in Stockton an exciting opportunity for fans to see in action while he develops the rest of his game to match his offensive prowess.
Read the other Meet the Heat’s:
Jon Gillies – Goaltender
Hunter Smith – Forward
Bill Arnold – Forward
