Kyle Dubas is making moves again, and this is a pretty significant one for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins traded defenseman Brett Kulak to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday afternoon in exchange for defenseman Samuel Girard and a 2028-second-round draft pick.

There are a lot of layers to this move, but at first glance it is a fascinating move for the Penguins and one that seems to improve quite a few areas.

For one, this is pretty clearly a salary dump for the Avalanche. Kulak is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season, while the Avalanche are the ones giving up the draft pick. That is the price they were willing to pay to get the Penguins to take on the remainder of Girard’s contract. Girard is signed through the end of the 2026-27 season with a $5 million salary cap. Given the salary cap space the Penguins have at their disposal for next season, it is not a big deal for them to take on that contract.

Dubas has been weaponizing the Penguins’ salary cap space for the better part of the past year-and-a-half now and used it to bring a stockpile of draft picks into the organization. This is another example of that.

It is also a potential upgrade to the defense for both this season and next season.

While the Avalanche clearly wanted to use that salary cap space for something else — perhaps another big move to add forward depth, what they do next will be fascinating — Girard is still a useful, puck-moving defenseman with strong underlying numbers. He is also a left-shot defenseman under contract for next season, something that has been a pretty big need for the Penguins. He is also still only 27 years old and fits into their current roster and timeline.

Kulak was a solid addition for the Penguins during his brief time here, but this is a no-brainer move. Especially when it comes with another future second-round pick to add into the collection.

With the addition of the 2028 second-round pick, they now have multiple second-round picks in each of the next four drafts, while also having multiple third-round picks in each of the next three drafts. That means over the next four draft classes the Penguins will have 20 draft picks in the first three rounds. That is a net-gain of eight draft picks. That is significant. Not only because it adds more prospects into the system for the ongoing rebuild, but also because those are picks that can also be traded. That is how you find an Egor Chinakhov or a potential addition to help in a playoff push without depleting your long-term prospects.

The other layer to this is it adds another branch to the still growing Tristan Jarry trade tree.

The Penguins initially acquired Kulak, along with goalie Stuart Skinner and a 2029 second-round draft pick, from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Jarry earlier this season.

With this trade now complete, it means the Penguins have turned Jarry and his contract into Stuart Skinner, Samuel Girard and two second-round draft picks.

That seems almost impossible to wrap your head around when you consider Jarry was on waivers a year ago, then playing in the American Hockey League, and looking to have a completely unmovable contract. They made it work, while also coming out ahead both now and in the future.

The thing about that is, even if Girard does not work out here he is STILL signed for fewer years than Jarry is. His contract comes off the books one year before Jarry’s does. So either way the Penguins are saving salary cap space in the long-run while also getting two pretty strong assets back in return and very likely making their team better in the short-term.

The question now becomes whether or not Skinner gets added to that Jarry trade tree to open the door for a potential Sergei Murashov call-up at some point. It would be risky, but nothing seems to be off the table right now.

It is really difficult to walk the line between rebuilding and contending at the same time, but the Penguins are doing a pretty good job of making it happen right now. They are a very good team. They are helping their team this season and very seriously competing for a playoff spot. It is, by pretty much every objective measure, a very good hockey team. They are also positioning themselves for the long-term with a significant influx of young talent while also having more draft picks over the next four years than any team in the NHL, including multiple picks in the second-and third-rounds. They also have significant amounts of salary cap space.

There is a lot you can do with that. All of it. They are in a good position both now and in the future. This is strong work by Kyle Dubas.