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Goodbye Naz: After a three year career resurrection Nazem Kadri says goodbye to the Avalanche and heads north to replace Gaudreau and Tkachuck with the Calgary Flames
Written by Jimmy Pallotto, Co-Host Far End of the Bench Podcast @FeOTBpod Available every Wednesday @11AM
It seemed like a foregone conclusion since the moment the clock hit triple zeroes in the Stanley Cup Final, but it is now official. Nazem Kadri will be taking his talents north of the border to the Alberta Province and do his best to replace the production left after Matthew Tkachuck and Johnny Guadreau both left earlier this off-season. The price tag for the now champion (First player of Lebanese descent to win the Stanley Cup) lands short of what many expected the Center to net from his suitors, just seven years for $7-million a year, the question can now be asked, was this the right choice? If this was the right decision for whom would that be? Is there a way this works out for all parties involved? I will attempt to answer those questions but before we get into it, if you are in need of new merch to support your favorite Variety Sports Network podcast click the link here to stock up now! Niko and I will be dropping some NFL themed shirts for both the Bengals and the Broncos soon so check it out and bookmark it while you are at it!
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Where to begin? I would say we should start with the Avalanche, but that is my bias showing. I think we should start with Nazem Kadri, who came to Denver from his stint with the Maple Leafs. For most hockey fans this is the Nazem Kadri you still see, and there is merit to that. I did not want a guy with the reputation of Kadri on my team and for the first two seasons in burgundy and blue this was true. Everyone remembers the Faulk hit in 2021, and before that he had been suspended in back-to-back seasons against Boston while he was still in Toronto. I am an NFL fan first, a league who seems to treat players with unsavory reputations better than those without, so it wasn’t something I wanted to see my hockey team do. Whether he was going to add skill or not, this was then a team piecing itself together following a last place finish in their recent past.
Even as recently as the last offseason prior to this one I was vocal on our podcast (The Far End of the Bench available Wednesday’s) that Kadri should be someone the Avs shouldn’t even bother to protect in the expansion draft. I was done, in my mind I gave the guy a chance and he took it then spat in the face of Avalanche territory. Then a rare thing happened, a professional athlete who makes more money than God to play a children’s game matured and learned from his past transgressions. It started with the article he wrote for the Players Tribune, “I didn’t sleep for a week straight after I hit Justin Faulk in the playoffs.” Such a powerful and humble statement started a story of Kadri telling the world why he played the way he did, and while most chose to still not like him (looking at you Blues fans who decided racial slurs were your best weapon to stop him) but most around the hockey world saw that Naz was a fiery competitor who understood he was out of line before and wanted to make a change. He didn’t just say it, he displayed it on the ice only missing games due to injury instead of suspension. In 71 games last season he finished with 87 points and was a +13
As far as the contract details go it's frustrating to see a guy you know earned his pay day have to wait and still take less than what he wanted. Right after the season Kadri was talked about around the $8-million a year club, obviously he would be wanting as close to the max term also. The waiting game started to take a toll on what he could be looking at, throw into that he is going to be 32 going on 33 at the start of the season, meaning an eight year contract wouldn’t expire until his 40th birthday and that scares a lot of GMs. After being rumored to the Islanders and then the Oilers he finally ends up in a place like Calgary, with all the ability to prove he can be THE man on a team. It's not a bad move, but it wasn’t one many people saw coming, especially after the way his departure from Toronto left such a sour taste in his mouth when it came to Canadian media. For him he probably enjoys being back in his home country where he can raise his daughter and grow his family. Having no experience there myself, I have heard that of the Canadian teams and cities to play for Calgary falls second behind Vancouver, but ahead of Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal since the landscape mimics that of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and even though they are Canadian psycho about hockey, they aren’t the craziest bunch.
My only real issue would be having to come to grips with Naz no longer leading the second line at Ball Arena. I knew it was his time to make some money, but such a turnaround makes it hard to say goodbye. What if he is able to find another level, it would be hard to enjoy now because his success would directly oppose the Avs, but it also makes me feel like if he loved the Avalanche and our fans like he said he would have given more consideration to staying. Rumors are there was a 4-year $6-million a year contract from Colorado on the table, he obviously went with more money on a team people like to say is a contender, but willingly cut off two of their best weapons themself. Does a line where Kadri is the Center and Jonathan Huberdeau on one of the wings excite me? Sure, but it isn’t going to be what takes the Flames over the top in terms of the playoffs. They were just bounced by a team made up of a singular line of forwards, in six games, where they lost the series clincher at home. If this was Calgary’s plan all along to be their big free agent move I guess good for you, but it doesn’t wow me to have signed a guy through his 39th birthday and have nothing of note behind him for depth.
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