Tag: Nazem Kadri

The Flames signed Nazem Kadri and are now set up to be even better this season

The Flames lost its two best players and still might be better this fall.

The Calgary Flames truly worked some miracles this offseason.

On Thursday, NHL insiders reported that the Flames had signed reigning Stanley Cup champion Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49 million deal worth $7 million a season. To make the salary work, the Flames also reportedly shipped out Sean Monahan to Montreal for an undisclosed return. In the midst of a relatively quiet offseason after the busy start of free agency, the news stunned hockey fans, especially after rumors swirled around the New York Islanders being the potential landing spot for Kadri.

Instead, however, Kadri is headed to Alberta as the Flames turn over a new leaf in their franchise’s history. Earlier this offseason, the Flames lost both Johnny Gaudreau (to free agency) and Matthew Tkachuk (via trade) after the pair put up career seasons of 100-plus points each. Given how the Flames were one of the best teams in the Western Conference during the 2021-22 season, the loss of two of the team’s first-line players — coming off of career seasons no less — was a bitter pill to swallow for Calgary and its fans.

For a time this summer, it seemed as if the Flames’ promising future was prematurely snuffed out as the team took a large step back in pure talent. Yet now, after recouping some incredible assets in the Tkachuk trade and Kadri’s recent signing, Calgary may just come out of this summer a better hockey team than before.

Let’s break it down, shall we? Here are all of Calgary’s major losses since the 2022 offseason began:

  • Johnny Gaudreau (free agency)
  • Matthew Tkachuk (trade)
  • Sean Monahan (trade)
  • Calle Jarnkrok (free agency)

And here are all of the Flames’ major additions this summer:

  • Jonathan Huberdeau (via trade, then signed an eight-year, $84 million contract extension)
  • MacKenzie Weegar (via trade)
  • Nazem Kadri (free agency)

That’s not half bad at all from general manager Brad Treliving. Yes, it’s not ideal to have lost Gaudreau and Tkachuk after the pair revitalized their careers last season. But, it seems as if Gaudreau was always going to move east to be closer to home once his contract expired in Calgary and the Flames got way more in return for Tkachuk than anyone was expecting in that deal.

And now, add Kadri to the list. At 31-years-old, it’s unreasonable to expect Kadri to top his career high 87-point season he had with the absolutely stacked Avalanche last year. Not only that, seven years at $7 million per is a steep price to pay on a contract that won’t be team friendly by its end. That being said, Kadri can still produce at a high offensive rate when surrounded by appropriate talent, which the Flames still have in spades.

Lest we all forget, Huberdeau matched Gaudreau in points last season (115) and set the single season assists record by a left winger with 87. Weegar too has playmaking potential while being an immediate, stable upgrade to the Flames blue line. Add a Stanley Cup winning Kadri into the mix and the losses of Gaudreau and Tkachuk don’t seem nearly as dire as they once were.

Headed into the 2022-23 season, it’s going to be weird seeing a Flames team without their two best players in Gaudreau and Tkachuk. And yet, with the savvy moves Treliving and company have made this offseason, the Flames could very well be even better than before.

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Nazem Kadri wore a ‘too many men’ shirt to the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup parade and NHL fans loved the savagery

Nazem Kadri: A Stanley Cup champion and a world-class troll!

Nazem Kadri is a Stanley Cup champion and he wants the world to know it.

The dust has settled on the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup victory but the celebrations are just beginning. Thursday marked the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup parade through the streets of Denver, where the team celebrated its thrilling victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning with its fans. And what a parade it was!

During the parade, Avalanche fans noticed Kadri, his family, and some other players wearing some unique shirts to the event. The shirt in question? A simple one, with a picture of the Avalanche celebrating above the text “too many men”, in reference to the overtime goal Kadri scored in Game 4 that was called into question by Lightning head coach Jon Cooper.

What an excellent level troll that is. Of course, the goal Kadri scored that was under the microscope did count and was a good goal, but when you’re at the top why not poke a bit of fun?

The brilliant shirt design comes from Twitter user — and Avalanche fan! — @guffychan, who made the shirts for Kadri at his request!

Here’s hoping fans will be able to buy them in short order.

What a Stanley Cup Final for Kadri too. From scoring that important Game 4 overtime winner to telling his haters to “kiss my [expletive]” after winning the Stanley Cup, Kadri is on top of the world and it shows!!

Hockey fans absolutely loved the top-tier trolling from Kadri at the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup parade too!

Nazem Kadri told his critics to ‘kiss my [expletive]’ after Avalanche won the Stanley Cup

Kadri is on top of the world right now.

Any time a team like the Avalanche — a squad that’s been on the brink of glory for years — wins the Stanley Cup, there will be more than a few stories of vindication. Usually, these stories fall into a few camps.

There are the young, great players getting what will probably be the first of many flowers. There are the established, consistent veterans who have been waiting for their moment of hockey ecstasy for years. And then there are those talented guys who people have unfairly maligned throughout their careers.

In this case: that’s Colorado’s Nazem Kadri. While he eventually got to hoist the Cup, it was a challenging postseason for the 31-year-old center (on top of an already challenging career).

Kadri first notably got into it with Jordan Binnington, who threw a water bottle at the forward during the second round of the playoffs. Kadri then drew unwarranted ire from the Blues, which had him respond quite well in kind.

Later, in the Western Conference Finals, Kadri was injured by a dangerous hit from Evander Kane. That injury meant we wouldn’t see Kadri play in the Stanley Cup Final, where he played hero for the Avs.

With all of that chaos behind him, Kadri had some strong thoughts for any of his critics as he sat on top of the NHL’s mountain for the first time:

Note: NSFW language is used in the video below. 

Whoa, hey, Nazem, there might be kids watching! On the other hand: Is he wrong? Has he not earned it? Ah, heck. Carry on, my man!

Fans on hockey Twitter loved Kadri’s refreshing comment toward all of his haters as he celebrated his first Stanley Cup.

7 important players to watch during the 2022 Stanley Cup Final

The stars will be out in full force in the Stanley Cup Final.

The stars will surely be out for the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche, there is talent galore in this NHL playoff finale with history on the line. The Lightning have won back-to-back Stanley Cups with a third in a row looming large if they can win four more games.

Standing in their way, however, are the Avalanche, who have been denied time and time again to get to the later rounds of the playoffs but finally succeeded this year. These two teams were two of the best in the NHL all season long, and this Stanley Cup Final promises to be an explosion of talent not seen in some time.

And yet, which players should you be paying the most attention to? Here are the seven most important players you need to watch during the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Jordan Binnington had such a childish explanation for tossing a water bottle at Nazem Kadri

How lame can you get?

Is Jordan Binnington a professional hockey player or a 28-year-old child?

After the St. Louis Blues had their playoff exit interviews Tuesday, it seems as if Binnington is fully in the territory of the latter. One of the biggest stories of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs so far came in the second round, when Binnington chucked a water bottle at Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri during a postgame interview on TNT.

The petulant show of frustration came after Kadri collided with Binnington in the first period of Game 3 of their second-round series, a play which injured the Blues goaltender and sidelined him for the rest of the series. Now that the series is over — with the Avalanche advancing to the Western Conference Final — Binnington has finally given an explanation as to why he threw a water bottle at Kadri.

And folks, it’s really… something else.

Yes, Binnington really said that the water-bottle throw was a “God-given opportunity,” and one that he had to take to get Kadri to… understand what he was going through?

Let’s roll the tape, just to be sure.

My god, does Binnington have the most childishly petty energy imaginable or what? Just absolute loser stuff here.

This isn’t the first time Binnington’s thrown a tantrum, as he has a history of angry outbursts during games. He also swung his stick dangerously at Kadri during a regular-season game last year — unprovoked!

What an absolute dork. That, combined with Binnington’s old racist tweets (that he only just deleted) paints a sad picture of an adult who should know better than to act like a toddler.

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The NHL needs to ban St. Louis’ David Perron and Pavel Buchnevich for a very long time

These two pathetic cowards should be banned for their attack on Nazem Kadri.

The NHL playoffs have been awesome this year but what has been happening in the Colorado-St. Louis series the past few days has been the opposite of that. Instead, it’s been disgusting, infuriating, awful and a whole bunch of other words I can’t write here.

In case you missed it, Colorado’s Nazem Kadri collided with Blues goalie Jordan Binnington in Saturday’s Game 3 in a bang-bang play that injured Binnington and knocked him out of the rest of this series.

Since then, Kadri has received death threats and lots of awful messages on social media by disgusting fans who should all be ashamed of themselves.

Then last night the Blues players tried to take out Kadri a few times, including these vicious attacks by two cowards by the names of David Perron and Pavel Buchnevich:

That’s just pathetic and dangerous and the NHL can’t let that type of stuff just happen and be OK with it. Those two cowards each got a 2-minute penalties for attacking Kadri, which is absurd.

I’d say they should be suspended for the rest of the playoffs but the Blues are down 3-1 in the series and aren’t going to be around for much longer so the league needs to come down on them hard and ban them for a bunch of games next year.

Kadri, by the way, had a hat trick last night and said afterward that his performance was “For those who hate, that was for them.”

Oh, and look at what else Perron tried to do:

Gross.

Twitter had reactions.

The Avalanche’s Nazem Kadri had the best response to threats after his Game 4 hat trick: ‘For those who hate, that was for them’

What a response.

There’s been some awful stuff that Nazem Kadri has had to deal with during the playoff series between his Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues.

He had a water bottle thrown at him by Jordan Binnington after Game 3, and law enforcement has been investigating threats that were made against him after a collision led to Binnington suffering a series-ending injury.

But on Monday night, Kadri responded to all of that by recording a hat trick — his first playoff three-goal game of his career — and then responding to everyone with an interview in which he responded to those threats with strong words of his own:

Blues’ Jordan Binnington threw a water bottle at Avs forward Nazem Kadri after brutal Game 3 injury

This isn’t good at all from Jordan Binnington here.

Tensions are boiling between the St. Louis Blues and the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

On Saturday, the Avalanche bested the Blues 5-2 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead, but all anyone is talking about after the fact is Nazem Kadri and Jordan Binnington. In the first period of Game 3, Kadri collided with Binnington in net after the forward was attempting to make a play on the puck on an offensive rush.

It’s a real unfortunate bang-bang play, as Kadri and Calle Rosen collided in the crease, sending both crashing into Binnington. Ville Husso then ended up having to relieve Binnington as the Stanley Cup winning netminder exited the game with an injury and didn’t return.

After the game finished, Kadri was suddenly hit with a water bottle while he was being interviewed by NHL on TNT.

Multiple journalists at the game confirmed it was Binnington himself who threw the water bottle at Kadri, with the evidence found at the scene of the crime shortly after.

The saga didn’t end there, however, as Blues head coach Craig Berube had some choice words to say about Kadri and whether or not he thought the play was a dirty one.

In postgame media interviews, Kadri stated that he likely wouldn’t have hit Binnington had he not collided with Rosen.

While Kadri does have a reputation of making dirty hits, the injury to Binnington was an unintended side effect of a hockey play that just happens sometimes. It sucks, as Binnington now is out for the series due to the injury he sustained on that play, but the collision with Kadri is purely accidental.

The NHL, meanwhile, is set to investigate the allegations that Binnington threw a water bottle at Kadri.

We’ll have to wait and see if Binnington is punished for his completely unnecessary off-ice outburst and how this will impact the series going forward.

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Watch: Colorado Avalanche stun St. Louis Blues with .1 left in regulation

Nazem Kadri scored with one-tenth of a second left as the Colorado Avalanche shocked the St. Louis Blues in a Stanley Cup qualifier.

Hockey is back. And it never was more apparent than Sunday when the Colorado Avalanche shocked the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in the first game of their best-of-five qualifier.

How about a goal by Nazem Kadri with .1 left in the third period for a 2-1 victory.

Watch:

The Blues had luck on their side in 2019 during their playoff run. They have to be hoping this isn’t indicative things have turned.