Thank You, Nazem Kadri

Well, the Nazem Kadri offseason saga has finally come to an end. The news broke on Thursday, August 18, 2022, that Nazem Kadri signed with the Calgary Flames, a seven-year contract worth $49 million ($7M/year). This past season was a contract year for Kadri; it was his third with the Colorado Avalanche after so many years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was also a career year for Kadri: 28 goals, 59 assists, 87 points, all highs for him. The questions had been up there for months. Would the Avs keep Kadri? Could they afford to keep him? Would he end up somewhere else? In the time that passed since the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup on June 26, 2022, the team had kept some of their pieces under new deals, and lost some others, but Kadri remained a UFA for almost two months.

For me, I originally dreaded the concept of the Avs losing Kadri. I've been a big fan of Kadri for years, and I was hoping he'd stay with the team. As time passed, I didn't dread it anymore, but I did keep hope that he would remain with the Avs, though I was prepared for the news that he would be with another team. Now that he is, all that's left for this immensely grateful Avalanche fan to do is simply say, "Thank you."

The Bubble Buzzer Beater

Thank you, Nazem Kadri, for that spectacular buzzer beater in the 2020 bubble against the Blues. I will never forget the late afternoon of August 2, 2020; hockey was back in action with the modified playoffs, which kicked off with the Qualifying Round and the Round Robin a day earlier. On that day, the Avalanche were in action for the first time since March 11, 2020, and it was a Round Robin game against the Blues. St. Louis scored first, but Ryan Graves tied it, and it was 1-1 for the most part. The Avs had a power play very late in regulation, and though Kadri missed one attempt, he got the puck after a Gabriel Landeskog chance, and beat the buzzer!

I still remember cheering loudly when that goal was scored, and of course, it was followed by the close up of Kadri's toothy grin, which remains a popular GIF on social media. An additional thanks for his production that year: 9 goals, 10 assists, 19 points in his first postseason with the Avs.

The Hat Trick

Thank you so much for this amazing hat trick in Game Four against the St. Louis Blues in 2022. We all know the story behind this. In Game Three, Kadri and Blues player Calle Rosen collided in to Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, resulting in Binnington being injured and out for the rest of the series. Even though it was painfully clear that Rosen caused the injury, Kadri got all of the blame, and it turned into something immensely ugly: a series of racially charged comments and death threats from (a vast number of) Blues fans hurled towards Kadri, How did Kadri respond to all of the unfair and unjust hate hurled towards him? Simple. He scored three goals in Game Four in St. Louis. I loved every moment of that hat trick, and it proved the line from Seinfeld correct: "The best revenge is living well."

Stuck in the Net

Thank you so much for this very wild and crazy goal, which ended up being Kadri's last as an Avs player. Game Four of the Cup Final was his first game back since Game Three of the West Final, and with the Avs up 2-1 in the Final, Game Four ended up going to overtime. It was a long OT for the Avs, and Kadri had been a non-factor until this very moment, when he got the puck from Arturri Lehkonen (who got it from Darcy Kuemper), and shot it--but no one had a clue where it was. It was believed to be saved by Andrei Vasilevskiy, but Bowen Byram saw where it was: stuck in the top of the net.

Kadri's goal won the game, and moved the Avs one win away from the Stanley Cup, which Colorado would win in Game Six. It was amazing, it was odd, and it was crazy, but Kadri's goal moved him one step close to the Cup that he would eventually get.

Hockey Diversity Alliance

I've mentioned nothing but goals, but Kadri's most important goal had nothing to do with shooting a puck. The most important thing I want to thank Kadri for is his efforts to show that hockey is, indeed, for everyone. Not just players, but for fans, who look like Kadri, and for fans who look like me. When Kadri was hit with the racially charged comments and threats after Game Three against the Blues, the discussion of race and racism in hockey had me thinking back to my own years as a hockey fan. I've been a hockey fan since I was seven years old, but even as a kid, I knew that there weren't a lot of players who looked like me. I remember watching the Oilers in the late 1990s/early 2000s and beaming over seeing not one, not two, but three Black players on the team: Mike Grier (now the GM of the San Jose Sharks), Anson Carter, and Georges Laraque.

Others I would see included Peter Worrell, Kevin Weekes, Joel Ward, Trevor Daley, and the legendary Jarome Iginla. Hockey's become much more diverse with players like Kadri, as well as Seth Jones, Matt Dumba, Jason Robertson, P.K. and Malcolm Subban, Alec Martinez, and recent young stars such as K'Andre Miller and Quinton Byfield. Now personally, I haven't been attacked for being a Black person that's into hockey, but I know others who have my same complexion have. Kadri co-founded the Hockey Diversity Alliance in 2020, and that group was founded to provide voices for not only players of color, but also fans of color as well.

Nazem Kadri did so much for the Avs on the ice, he did so much for the Leafs on the ice, and he'll definitely be a key player for the Flames. Even so, what he's continuing to do is much bigger than the sport; his efforts to promote diversity in the greatest sport in the entire world. With all of that, I say, "Thank you, Nazem Kadri, and continue to do well on and off the ice."