A 7-year Contract Has Been Agreed To By Nazem Kadri And The Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames have signed free agent center Nazem Kadri to a contract, according to ESPN, as the free agent center ends weeks of speculation about where he will play next in the NHL.
According to a league source, the contract has a seven-year term and carries a cap hit of $7 million over its course.
The Flames are also working on a trade for center Sean Monahan to the Montreal Canadiens in order to make salary-cap space for Kadri, according to multiple reports.
In one of his best seasons for the Colorado Avalanche in which he scored 87 points in 71 games, Kadri, who turns 32 in October, had a career-high 87 points.
A 7-year Contract Has Been Agreed To By Nazem Kadri And The Calgary Flames
Over the course of his 13-year NHL career, during which he spent 10 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has accumulated 512 points in 739 games.
Known for playing with an edge to his game, Kadri has been suspended six times during his career, including three times during the playoffs – although he was notably able to avoid any supplemental discipline during Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup championship.
During the regular season, Kadri played well with Colorado’s high-octane power-play units and he became more visible in the postseason when he came back from a thumb injury to score an overtime goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
During the Western Conference finals, Kadri sustained an injury when Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane incurred a boarding penalty while riding him into the wall behind the goal.
As a result, the Avalanche went on to sweep that series in four games.
During the offseason market, which opened on July 13, Kadri was one of the most prominent unrestricted free agents on the market.
Kadri was speculated to have a deal in place with the New York Islanders, whose general manager, Lou Lamoriello, has a reputation for staying quiet when it comes to transactions, and who would have needed to clear cap space to acquire him as the weeks passed without any announcements of a signing.
As a result, the Flames acquired Kadri, continuing a chaotic offseason that saw Calgary lose two of its top scorers in as many months.
He left the franchise after nine seasons to sign a free agent deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets after nine seasons with the franchise.
Matthew Tkachuk, who was one season away from unrestricted free agency, was traded to the Florida Panthers in July after making it clear that he would not be staying in Calgary for the long term after making it clear that he didn’t plan to stay.
In order to acquire Kadri, GM Brad Treliving and the Flames continued a strategy of aggressively acquiring star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar from the Panthers for Tkachuk, as part of an aggressive Plan B.
The Flames then signed Huberdeau to an eight-year contract with a $10.5 million cap hit for the purpose of replacing Gaudreau.
The 27-year-old Monahan has played all nine of his seasons in the NHL with the Flames. During the course of Monahan’s career, he suffered a series of injuries that affected his output and the amount of time that he spent on the ice.
During the 2021-22 season, he was a healthy scratch at times, averaging a career-low 14:04 in 65 games prior to his season being shut down for hip surgery at the beginning of the season.
Monahan, who was selected with the sixth overall pick in 2013, is entering the final season of a seven-year deal that carries a cap hit of $6.375 million.