Kris Knoblauch explains his decision to elevate Brett Kulak

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Patrick Frost
November 14, 2024 (3:34 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers are gearing to play against the Nashville Predators tonight, and you may notice an unexpected player on the ice a little bit more.

Brett Kulak has been absolutely on fire to start the 2024-25 NHL campaign. In 16 regular season games, Kulak has notched 4 goals and 2 assists.

Assistant coach Paul Coffey has been rewarding Kulak with increased minutes, frequently elevating him to the second line pairing alongside Darnell Nurse.

The 30-year-old picked up over 20 minutes of ice time last against the New York Islanders, while shifting between playing the right side on the second pair and the left side on the third pair.

During a recent interview, head coach Kris Knoblauch explains the substantial increase in Brett Kulak's ice time.

«You've got two veteran defencemen, Nurse and Kulak, who are on different pairs but we feel like we can get more out of them and they can bring more and they have,» Knoblauch said. «Paul [Coffey] has been rewarding them with a little ice time and the only we can reward both of those guys with a little more ice time is them playing together.

«They're both good defencemen so it doesn't matter if sometimes Kulak is on the right and sometimes Nurse is on the right. They're just playing hockey, they can both handle it. We've been very happy with those two.»

Although Brett Kulak is expected to start on the third line pairing tonight, don't be surprised if you notice the Stony-Plain native playing alongside Darnell Nurse as well.

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