Brett Kulak and the Hidden Moves Behind the Moves

Trades in the NHL get dissected for the contracts, the cap implications, and the on-ice fit. That’s fair game. But there’s another aspect of trades that people don’t think about much. What’s the impact on the players’ families? Mom and kids suddenly have to move across the continent because Dad’s been traded. That’s the part that actually hits home.

Kulak Was Traded Twice this Season

Brett Kulak’s season has offered a front-row seat to that side of the business. Twice traded in a single season, he went from the Edmonton Oilers to the Pittsburgh Penguins and then to the Colorado Avalanche. Through all these moves, he’s had to navigate not just the locker room and ice time.

That’s the easy part. But the harder parts include the shifting realities of home, specifically as a wife and mother of two young children. It’s the part of hockey that rarely makes headlines, but it’s the one that shapes a player’s life off the ice, and often on it too.

To share a little bit about Kulak’s family, he married wife Caitlyn in July 2021 and they have two young daughters together: Ryleigh (born May 2022, famously arriving between Games 6 and 7 of Edmonton’s 2022 playoff series against the Kings) and Scotlyn (born April 2025, with Kulak rushing home for the birth before flying back to join the Oilers for their next playoff game against the Kings). The family tries to keep a pretty low-key, private life despite the NHL spotlight.

Kulak Talks About the Ripple Effect on His Young Family

Kulak was talking about how wild it is to get traded twice in one season — he said it’s pretty rare, and you can tell he means it. Every move shakes things up for his family: new city, new routines, new schools for the kids, and trying to make it all feel normal while the NHL craziness keeps going in the background.

He describes it in almost practical terms, like “picking up the pieces” and “getting our lives in order.” But underneath that practicality is the constant balancing act: a desire to stay together as a family, and the acknowledgment that it’s not always easy.

Kulak Admits the Trades Are Easier on Him than His Family

What makes this particularly interesting is Kulak’s observation about how the family handles the moves. He notes that the transitions are smoother for him as the player. He’s moving on for work, as he puts it. But it’s different for his spouse and kids — and harder.

They’re adapting to new routines, meeting new neighbours, and reestablishing the sense of home twice in a short span. The young kids, he admits, are resilient, but each move brings a little turbulence. And yet, the family strives to stay cohesive. It’s a negotiation, a give-and-take between career demands and the desire for stability.

Often, the Backstories of Trades Are Ignored by Others

The broader takeaway from Kulak’s reflections is how often the stories of hockey trades skip over this dimension. There’s the surface-level “he’s been traded again,” and then there’s the quieter, deeper impact: family, home, routine, emotional rhythm. Kulak’s season shows that the human element doesn’t pause for the sport. He’s learning, his family is adapting, and amid trades and shifting locker rooms, the real victory is keeping the family together and functional while the professional side of hockey plays its unpredictable hand.

In the end, Kulak’s story isn’t just about transactions on paper; it’s about the hard work behind the scenes and off the ice. There’s a lot of movement in hockey, but the hardest work is often invisible — the emotional choreography of keeping a family grounded in the eye of a storm. That, in its quiet way, is just as demanding as any shift on the ice.

Related: Ingram Thanks Mystery Oilers Teammate for ‘Taking Care of Him’