Nazem Kadri placed on pedestal by Avs possibly to facilitate a trade

There has been chatter ever since Nazem Kadri received his massive suspension in this postseason that the Colorado Avalanche might be looking to trade him.

The Avs were full of hope when the team acquired Kadri in 2019 and when the forward managed to keep his cool in last year’s postseason in the Edmonton bubble. It was short-lived : the pesty forward was suspended eight games for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk. This was Kadri’s third playoff suspension over the past six years. He was suspended for the remainder of the first round in 2019 for cross-checking, which turned out to be five games, and was suspended three games for boarding in 2018. Each of those incidents happened with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who traded him to Colorado in the summer of 2019. 
Without Kadri in its lineup, the Avalanche completed a four-game sweep of the Blues, but was eliminated in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Avalanche has a lot on his plate this offseason as GM Joe Sakic will need to balance his wallet with captain Gabriel Landeskog, star defenseman Cale Makar, and goalie Philipp Grubauer all candidates for costly, long-term extensions. One more thing could be on that list as trade chatter for Kadri keeps popping up.

On Tuesday, rumours got louder with the Avalanche posting a strange video to promote Kadri’s game. However, the only angle the team could find was : 

The only guy to play in all 56 regular season games: Nazem Kadri.

The depth the Avalanche can count on is impressive, which prompted several pundits and insiders to speculate that Sakic will look to move Kadri in the summer. 

With the team’s tweet, fans got going with some even wondering if the Seattle Kraken could be interested in the feisty forward’s services. That’s another thing the Avalanche need to worry about : who to protect, which player they might lose. Could they strike a deal with GM Ron Francis? On Tuesday, blue liner Erik Johnson announced that has waived his no-trade and will be available for Seattle at the draft. This most importantly means that the Avalanche will be able to protect Samuel Girard and Devon Toews, along with Makar, of course. 

The Ottawa Senators are reportedly interested in Kadri… is this the way to go? Let’s see if this funny promotional video on Nazem convinces them to make a move! 

Hey, who knows?!