As of this writing, Brett Kulak has been through his arbitration hearing: the first Flame to have gone that far in the process since Lance Bouma in 2015. Bouma, then, was a depth player coming off of a shooting percentage-inflated season and very quickly proved not worth the three-year deal he received before the arbitrator handed down their ruling; Kulak, now, is a depth player the Flames are focusing on re-signing for cheap.
And when you go through the Flames’ defensive depth chart, it’s pretty easy to see why: Kulak can help the team, but he isn’t too likely to play above the third pairing – and that’s if he’s a regular in 2018-19 at all.