Brett Kulak turned back the clock for the Edmonton Oilers last season, becoming a massive piece of their blueline. He stayed healthy, playing in all 82 regular season games, and looked excellent doing so.

While there may not be much offence to his game — something there has never been much of — Kulak was an incredibly effective piece for the Oilers. He played two-thirds of his five-on-five ice time with Vincent Desharnais, with the pair keeping their heads above water regarding all the key underlying metrics.

With Kulak on the ice, no matter the partner, the Oilers controlled 53.3 percent of the shot attempt share, 54.5 percent of the scoring chance share, 56.5 percent of the expected goal share while virtually breaking even in actual goals with 50.6 percent of the share. While the offensive metrics weren’t exactly strong, with shot attempt for and scoring chance for rates lower than average, the defensive metrics were rock solid compared to his teammates.

Kulak was an impact player for the team last year, providing both offence and defence at a five percent rates above league average, according to Hockey Viz, whose model showed the defenceman impacted the game at the same level as a top pairing defenceman. It goes without saying that having a player doing that on your third pairing, where he rightly fits in on this blue line, is a huge boon for the team.

While Kulak himself played well in the playoffs, his numbers didn’t reflect that, dragged down by significant minutes with Cody Ceci.

Heading into next season, the Oilers will need Kulak to be a rock on the blue line again, doubly so given the departures of Ceci, Vincent Desharnais and Philip Broberg.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.