Kulak's baby born this morning and now Edmonton Oilers defenceman is rushing to L.A.
Nobody is having a more hectic day than Edmonton Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak.
The veteran defenceman left the Oilers in San Jose over the weekend to go back to Alberta, where he welcomed his second child, a baby girl named Skylar, with wife Caitlyn in the early hours of Monday morning.
Emotions must have been running high for Kulak as he got a first glimpse of his newborn, but he didn’t have much time to savour the moment. He had to catch a flight to L.A. in time for tonight’s playoff game against the Kings.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch broke the news of Kulak’s new baby this morning and said he still expects him to be in the lineup for Game 1 of their opening-round series.
“Brett is going to be available, we expect him to be back. He’s in flight right now,” Knoblauch said. “[The baby] came a little bit early, a girl [named] Skylar Brooklyn [Kulak], and everyone is doing well.”
Coach Knoblauch met with the media ahead of tonight's Game 1 to discuss lineup notes, the starting goaltender, the #Oilers power play & the matchup vs. the Kings.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/qogiIDEbCH
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 21, 2025
The exact time of the baby’s birth has not been revealed, but it was confirmed to have been sometime on Monday morning. The flight time from Edmonton to L.A. varies, but it usually falls around three and a half hours. Considering tonight’s Game 1 has a late start time of 8 p.m. MDT, it should give him plenty of time to get ready for the big game.
Funnily enough, this is not the first time a baby’s birthĀ has thrown a wrench into Kulak playing a playoff game against the Kings. Back in 2022, Kulak’s first child, Riley, was born between Games 6 and 7 of Edmonton’s opening-round series. Luckily, he made it back to the Alberta capital in time to help the Oilers advance to the second round that season.
The hope is that he can strike a similar winning result in tonight’s game.
Oilers have multiple game-time decisions
With Kulak expected to be in the lineup tonight as a fresh father of two, the Oilers will have to make a few decisions on who will join him on the ice.
Knoblauch has labelled Trent Frederic as a game-time decision after he played only one game with the Oilers this season due to injury. The 27-year-old has been skating with the team over recent days but has yet to take part in regular line rushes.
If he were to play tonight, it would make sense to line him up beside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jeff Skinner on the third line. If Frederic plays, it seems Kasperi Kapanen could come out of the lineup.
Evander Kane has already been ruled out as an option for tonight, as per Knoblauch.
On the backend, there is still a decision to be made on who will round out the defensive group on the third pair. Mattias Ekholm is expected to miss the entire opening round. Troy Stecher and John Klingberg are unavailable due to injury.
Knoblauch says they will decide before the game whether Josh Brown or Cam Dineen will play on the pairing with Kulak.
Stuart Skinner has been confirmed as Edmonton’s Game 1 starter, with the Kings expected to go with Darcy Kuemper at the other end of the ice.