By Jordan Long
The Colorado Avalanche have made plenty of moves to try and make a deeper run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020. One skater they traded for is Nazem Kadri from the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this month. The Avs hope he can improve the secondary scoring behind the big line of Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon.
Kadri is expected to be the 2nd line center to start the year. He should see time on the power play. Kadri will set up in front of the goaltender to screen the goalie so they can’t see the puck for goals. He can also tip the puck in to put it in the back of the net. Kardi has shown he can score in the NHL. In his career all with the Maple Leafs he scored 161 goals and added 196 assists for a total of 357 points in 561 games. Of the 161 goals, 48 came on the man advantage.
Last season, he lit the lamp 16 times while adding 28 assists for a total of 44 points. Toronto made the playoffs with him only to be knocked out in the 1st-round by the Boston Bruins in 7 games. In the postseason Kadri didn’t play well, suiting up in 2 playoff games. He managed to score 1 goal and 1 assist.
Colorado knew they wanted to add scoring to the team this summer. Toronto tried to send Kadri to Calgary but he declined since he has a no-trade clause. The reason was to stay with Toronto. It was clear they were going to let him go and he agreed to Colorado.
According to NHL.com Kadri said, “I feel like I’m having a great summer so far and I’m feeling really the best I ever have working for redemption next season. I feel strong, I feel great and I strongly believe that my best years are yet to come. I think Colorado’s a nice step for me.”
The Avalanche have another scorer in Kadri. Kadri must be able to put up the numbers he did in Toronto with 40+ points next season. Those numbers will help Colorado make another run to the postseason. Colorado knows they have improved the team with this move. fffff
Leave a Reply