{"id":474554,"date":"2026-02-27T06:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/474554\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:31:15","slug":"avalanche-interested-in-nazem-kadri-reunion-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/474554\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche Interested In Nazem Kadri Reunion \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Avalanche have already been busy opening cap space ahead of the trade deadline, taking a slight hit to their blue line depth to swap out\u00a0Samuel Girard<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Brett Kulak<\/a>\u00a0in Tuesday\u2019s deal with the Penguins<\/a>. They\u2019re now projected to have close to $11MM in cap space on deadline day. That leaves them wide-open to acquire a big-name target to bolster their chase for the Presidents\u2019 Trophy and the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

One of those targets is coming into view: Flames pivot Nazem Kadri<\/a>, whose career year for the Avs in 2021-22 helped guide them to their only Cup win of the\u00a0Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>\u00a0era, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period<\/a> reports. That comes amid Kadri\u2019s name rocketing up trade lists following reports that he\u2019s had a change of heart on his willingness to stay in Calgary long-term<\/a>, plus Pagnotta indicating today that the Flames are open to retaining a portion of Kadri\u2019s $7MM cap hit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With a 13-team no-trade list, Kadri can block a move to several contenders. The Hurricanes, who were purported to have interest in him earlier this season, were reportedly on that list<\/a>. It\u2019s a relative certainty, though, that Kadri wouldn\u2019t welcome a return to the destination where he had his greatest offensive success, which he then parlayed into his seven-year, $49MM free agency cash-in with Calgary in 2022.<\/p>\n

Now 35, Kadri\u2019s deal still has another three seasons left on it. He\u2019ll be 38 when it\u2019s up. For a cap-strapped team like the Avs, that makes a deal a non-starter without retention because of its long-term impact, even if they have the space to pull it off this season. If Calgary is willing to make him closer to a $5MM or $4MM player through 2028-29, though, that suddenly makes it a workable addition for Colorado. They\u2019re up to $13MM in flexibility for next season after the Girard-for-Kulak trade with seven roster spots to fill. Bringing that figure back under $10MM with a Kadri pickup, assuming they don\u2019t send a significantly-paid roster player the other way, would preclude them from making any major additions this summer as things stand, but it would still allow them to fill out a full roster with depth signings.<\/p>\n

The presumption that the Avs wouldn\u2019t send a roster player back may be hasty, though. They\u2019re one of the deepest clubs in the league at every position, their prospect pool notwithstanding, and could easily stand to leverage a third-line name like\u00a0Jack Drury<\/a>\u00a0or an even pricier one like\u00a0Ross Colton<\/a>\u00a0in talks if the Flames have an interest in either.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a relative weakness on Colorado\u2019s roster, it\u2019s having Drury in the third-line slot down the middle. His eight goals and 19 points in 56 games this season are somewhat underwhelming on a team that scores as much as the Avs for a player averaging nearly 15 minutes per night. He\u2019s nonetheless been incredibly valuable in the faceoff dot, winning 58.6% of his draws.<\/p>\n

What Kadri lacks in faceoff acumen, he more than makes up for in what would likely give the Avs one of the best one-two-three punches down the middle in the modern era with MacKinnon,\u00a0Brock Nelson<\/a>, and himself. Even in a relatively down year for the late bloomer (at least in terms of him being a true top-six piece), he\u2019s put up 39 points in 56 games to lead Calgary in scoring. That\u2019s a 57-point pace over 82 games, and his recent history remains exceptional, with 35 goals last year and 75 points the year before.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to question if a Kadri acquisition would cause the Avs to invest too much into aging assets for too long, though. While Nelson has exploded for 30 goals and 50 points in 56 games, he\u2019s 34 years old and signed for two more years at a $7.5MM cap charge. With Cale Makar<\/a>\u2018s next big payday scheduled for 2027, loading up too much past next season could leave them with too little flexibility to get a deal done.<\/p>\n

Among the other teams that have expressed some level of interest are the Canadiens, as previously reported<\/a>, plus Colorado\u2019s Central Division challengers, the Stars and Wild, Pagnotta reports. He also added the Panthers as a team that\u2019s kicked the tires, but that likely hinges on their decision to enter the deadline as buyers at all \u2013 something that\u2019s looking less and less likely with a playoff spot now eight points out of reach.<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Avalanche have already been busy opening cap space ahead of the trade deadline, taking a slight hit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[26,144,5,2054,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-474554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-calgary-flames","9":"tag-colorado-avalanche","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nazem-kadri","12":"tag-newsstand"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116141195190023991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}