Player Discussion Nazem Kadri

[Bounces R Way]

What are your thoughts on the Flames newest pivot? Honestly I've always hated the guy, much in the same way I get why other team's fans hate Tkachuk. An absolute pain in the ass to play against. Draws penalties, stirs it up in scrums, takes runs, all while being a very effective and productive center.

Thought he got a bum deal in Toronto, never got to play with the best players, one of the only Leafs to show a spine in the playoffs. Understood why they traded him though.

Last year's season Kadri set career highs in points putting up 87pts in 71GP in the regular season and added 15pts in 16GP in the playoffs playing on the Stanley Cup winning Avalanche. Now while that looks like an obvious outlier when you look at his whole career it was also a career high in terms of average time on ice. When MacKinnon went down Kadri stepped up big time getting more opportunity with better linemates than he ever had before, and IIRC was very close to leading the league in scoring at several points in the season. He won't be playing with Rantanen or Landeskog here but he should be getting some significant ice time in Calgary as a 1A/1B with Lindholm.

I'm most excited for how this signing could show up in the playoffs. Last year Naz scored some huge goals for the Avs in that run, even coming back from injury to show up in the finals and scored an absolute massive OT winner.

Guy clearly HATES to lose, and while I loved Gaudreau and Tkachuk, and even Lindholm to some extent they seemed content to go quietly a lot of years in the postseason.

What would be a successful first year for him here? Who do you think he plays with?

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[Some Other Flame]

 

[super6646]

Like the player, not a fan of the retirement contract at all

 

[IGGY2JOHNNY]

Not a fan of the contract but a big fan of the player. As a Flames fan who lives in Toronto, I tend to watch a lot of Leaf games before the Flames come on and got to see a ton of Kadri.

The guy plays with his heart on his sleeve every single night and gives it his all. Is a leader on and off the ice and is always stirring things up on the ice, in all the scrums, much like Tkachuk, but plays the game a bit smarter then MT and actually draws a lot more penalties then he takes which is a big plus for us after having to deal with players like Bennett and Tkachuk the last few years take bad penalty after bad penalty. Was stuck playing 3C with the leafs his last season there and often played with inferior players but still put up respectable numbers. Scored 30 goals with the leafs twice as their 2C. Exploded last year in Colorado when given the chance at a bigger role with better players. With him getting a similar role here but with slightly inferior players around him then the ones in Colorado last year, I expect him to be near 60 points or so for a full season. A little better then his numbers in Toronto but he will come down to earth for sure from his insane season last year. A little worried how the contract will age for us like I mentioned, but this guy will be a fan favorite soon enough for the next 2-3 seasons

 

[Zirakzigil]

Cant crystal ball things, no idea who this contract ages out. For now though he gives the Flames insane center depth, gritty top 6 guy and another good shot. Cant complain about the price for the next few years at least.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Kadri is my kind of centreman. Really effective with the puck on his stick, mobile, shifty, high-energy, and a little belligerent. Give him some a Toffoli and you've added a 30 goal scorer we didn't have last year.

While his scoring last year was a little inflated, I think overall he is just as good a player as guys like Toews, Krejci, and ROR, and a better centre than Backlund, who I consider a better overall centre than Lindholm in isolation.

Even in our best years of the Tre era , we really lacked speed down the middle. All our speed was on the wings in guys like Gaudreau, Bennett, Byron, Rieder, Dube, and from the backend in guys like Brodie and Kylington. This resulted in a pretty unbalanced attack that was easy to shutdown. Backlund was the only centre we had that could really give us speed through the middle, but in his role he had to start deeep in the defensive zone most shifts.

Suddenly with the addition of 18+ minutes of Kadri, our wingers (Toffoli for instance) can be wingers, and we are suddenly a tough team to "gameplan" against in the playoffs. Take away the middle? Huberdeau will pick you apart. Take away the wings? Kadri will slice through. Take away the first wave? Kylington will snipe past your goalie's face

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Kadri is my kind of centreman. Really effective with the puck on his stick, mobile, shifty, high-energy, and a little belligerent. Give him some a Toffoli and you've added a 30 goal scorer we didn't have last year.

While his scoring last year was a little inflated, I think overall he is just as good a player as guys like Toews, Krejci, and ROR, and a better centre than Backlund, who I consider a better overall centre than Lindholm in isolation.

Even in our best years of the Tre era , we really lacked speed down the middle. All our speed was on the wings in guys like Gaudreau, Bennett, Byron, Rieder, Dube, and from the backend in guys like Brodie and Kylington. This resulted in a pretty unbalanced attack that was easy to shutdown. Backlund was the only centre we had that could really give us speed through the middle, but in his role he had to start deeep in the defensive zone most shifts.

Suddenly with the addition of 18+ minutes of Kadri, our wingers (Toffoli for instance) can be wingers, and we are suddenly a tough team to "gameplan" against in the playoffs. Take away the middle? Huberdeau will pick you apart. Take away the wings? Kadri will slice through. Take away the first wave? Kylington will snipe past your goalie's face

I like it when you talk like that.

I’m stoked that we added Kadri. The Flames will be no fun to play against. All of Lindy, Kadri and Backs are all elite shutdown C-men, this going to be an excellent team under Sutter.

 

[Backlund]

Like the player, hate the term. If the cap goes up like it should though it shouldn't be too much of a problem in the last couple years.

 

[MM917]

Not really a fan of the player or the contract. But he is here now so not much we can do about it.

 

[Fig]

Like the player, not a fan of the retirement contract at all

Tbh, life was getting stale in the league watching teams all try and build precision weapons. Good on Treliving for building a zero f***s given explosive and declaring his intention to lob it into the division with a short timer set for the next few seasons.

If love to see another upgrade or two and really see certain teams start to squirm when Treliving starts the timer.

This team's build and window is almost metaphorically Kadri. Expected to be unapologetically devastating.

 

[BRobMint]

The term is risky but Kadri’s the type of player this team needs. We finally have really good depth down the middle

 

[Turning Mangiapanese]

I was never wowed by Kadri when I saw him play, but I do remember him always giving all the f***s he had on ice. His last season certainly looks like an anomaly but whatever. If we overpay, then let's overpay for key guys in Cup winning teams.
The deal will definitely look bad down the road, but for the next couple of years we are looking beautiful at C.

 

[Some Other Flame]

 

[Khrox]

I love guys like Kadri. As much as we got Huby and Weegar for Tkachuk, Huby was always the Gaudreau replacement. Kadri is a Tkachuk replacement, and I take that every time.

Is the contract a bit much? Sure. Is it a bit long, absolutely. At the same time, we're building to be in a hard compete mode the next 3 years, and those are the years that Kadri has a chance of outperforming his contract anyways. If he hits a 30g 60p pace for the next couple years, I'm more than happy, especially if we can go far/win the cup.

 

[Koolboss]

Been following Kadri since he played for London, as a former Leaf fan he was the heart and soul of that team. He showed what he was really worth once given the opportunity in Colorado. You guy will love him, looking forward to see him destroy the Oilers and the Leafs.

 

[The Gnome]

Man, I almost never post here anymore, but hot damn. This team is way better now than before the Summer drama started.

I'd rather go all in for a cup run than do a slow painful rebuild. With the pieces and coach we have now its time to seize the opportunity. If we fail, then all the armchair GMs can salivate for the next 7 years over a near zero chance of landing the next McDavid.

In all of this insanity I think the addition of Weegar is being overlooked. Kadri is old, but he's a fantastic 1B center for a couple years still. Hubey is one of the best in the world and has size to boot.

Pumped!

 

[Volica]

DGAF about the contract.
Heckuva player that has given this team the best centre depth they’ve had in my adult life.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Man, I almost never post here anymore, but hot damn. This team is way better now than before the Summer drama started.

I'd rather go all in for a cup run than do a slow painful rebuild. With the pieces and coach we have now its time to seize the opportunity. If we fail, then all the armchair GMs can salivate for the next 7 years over a near zero chance of landing the next McDavid.

In all of this insanity I think the addition of Weegar is being overlooked. Kadri is old, but he's a fantastic 1B center for a couple years still. Hubey is one of the best in the world and has size to boot.

Pumped!

Man! Good to hear from you!!

 

[Yepthatsme]

Expecting 100 points is unreasonable, but I don’t see why everyone is just writing him in to go back down to a 50-60 point player. Watch any highlights or look at any underlying stats from last season, he wasn’t just the beneficiary of luck or quality teammates carrying him, he genuinely drove play and played like a star last season. His 3 most common line mates last year were Nichuskin, Burakovsky, and Compher, what we can give him isn’t a much of a step down from that. Our power play shouldn’t be awful either with him, Huberdeau, Lindholm and Mangiapane, and any of our 3/4 defenseman. Think it’s pretty reasonable he still sniffs 70 points or maybe even 80, that would still be a 20-30 point reduction from how he played last year.

More I’ve been thinking, I wonder if it’d make sense to do a Mangiapane-Kadri-Toffoli line as an absolutely lethal second line, then have Dube play with Huberdeau and Lindholm. Huberdeau and Lindholm are pretty well known for being able to make anyone and everyone better, and that gives us 3 responsible two way players with great offense for our second line.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

 

[CraigsList]

He’s going to become a fan favorite rather quick. He’s just as hated as Tkachuk is around the league.

 

[jonmonohand]

I think him and mangi will be dynamite together.

 

[BRobMint]

 

[Rubi]

I'm just happy to have a center better than Backlund to replace Backlund. Backlund should have been moved to the 3rd line a couple of years ago but we didn't have anyone to replace him. If Monahan hadn't declined so far he would have been the optimal Backlund replacement but he did and we were where we were.

 

[jonmonohand]

common Tree bring in 1 more top winger and we are in it!