The Calgary Flames announced on Monday afternoon that they have traded Brett Kulak to the Montreal Canadiens for Rinat Valiev and Matt Taormina.
Well, the Brett Kulak era is officially over. With the regular season around the corner, the Calgary Flames have made some moves in preparation. One of them was moving on from defenceman Brett Kulak and sending him across the continent to the Montreal Canadiens. Earlier on Monday afternoon, the Flames also announced that Dillon Dube and Juuso Valimaki will make the opening-night roster.
Bill Peters isn’t messing around, hey?
In return, the Flames got Rinat Valiev and Matt Taormina.
Placed on waivers yesterday, Kulak is now a member of the Canadiens organization. Coming the other way are two AHL-bound defencemen that will give the Heat some depth in that position.
Rinat Valiev was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 3rd round back in 2014 and has never really gotten his chance to become an NHL regular since then. He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in the Tomas Plekanec deal at the deadline last season.
Valiev is only 23-years-old, so there is still the potential that he can become something at the NHL level.
Matt Taormina, on the other hand, is the definition of an AHL veteran. The 31-year-old defenceman has only played a total of 59 games in the NHL, but his AHL resume is much longer.
502 games, 74 goals, and 312 points round out what Taormina has contributed to his seven different AHL teams. He was named to the AHL All-Star team just last season.
Kulak was shown the door earlier this week when he was placed on waivers, so to get two assets for him in return, is at least something.
He played 101 games for the Flames, scoring two goals and eleven points.
Valiev cleared waivers on September 26th, so both players will be able to report to start the season in Stockton.