The Colorado Avalanche signaled they are going all-in this season after acquiring forward Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames in a last-minute blockbuster ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
Colorado sent a conditional 2028 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 second-round pick, forward Victor Olofsson and center prospect Max Curran to the Flames for Kadri and a 2027 fourth-round pick. Calgary will also retain 20% of Kadri’s $7 million cap hit for the remaining three years on his contract.
The 2028 first-rounder is tied to the pick Toronto sent to Colorado in the Nic Roy trade on Thursday. It could be a 2028 top-ten protected first or a 2029 unprotected first. The 2027 second-rounder is best of Colorado or Minnesota’s pick.
The 35-year-old Kadri has 12 goals and 41 points in 61 games this season.
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Kadri previously played for Colorado from 2019 to 22, winning a Stanley Cup championship in the 2021-22 campaign. The veteran center left as a free agent that summer and landed in Calgary. He hasn’t seen the postseason since, as the Flames slowly trended downward into their current state of a rebuild.
That made Kadri a viable trade candidate. He has remained productive and durable throughout Calgary’s struggles, appearing in all 82 games each of the past three seasons and recording a career-high 35 goals last year.
It did take until the final minutes before Friday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline to complete the transaction and see Kadri off. Colorado would have required salary retention to make Kadri fit under the cap, and Calgary was trying to avoid that if possible. In the end, the Flames received a hefty package befitting of where they’re at now and looking forward — and Kadri gets an opportunity to chase another championship in Colorado.
And that’s what the Avalanche expect to do. Colorado wanted to get deeper down the middle and started that by trading for Nicolas Roy from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday for another first-round pick. Now the Avalanche have given up another — along with several more pieces — to get Kadri and have a true third-line center behind Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson.
The Avalanche are currently first in the league with 91 points.
