Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Nazem Kadri

Snapshots: Kadri, Housley, Rochester

at CDT | by 1 Comment

There was concern earlier today out of Colorado Avalanche camp, as forward Nazem Kadri was notably missing from practice with an undisclosed illness. Those concerns were calmed a bit with the confirmation that the illness was not in fact COVID-19, says Peter Baugh of The Athletic (link). According to Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Post, who spoke to Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar, Kadri is still expected to be ready for Game 1 on Tuesday night (link).

Keeping Kadri in the lineup is key for the Avalanche as they head into the playoffs with eyes set on the Stanley Cup. As strong as their lineup is, Kadri plays a pivotal role as their second-line center, playing a 200-foot game and contributing plenty offensively. The forward just finished his best season to date, in which he compiled 28 goals and 59 assists in 71 games. Colorado is set to take on the Nashville Predators at home Tuesday night in Game 1 of the first round.

  • Staying out west, the Arizona Coyotes announced that they have mutually parted ways with Assistant Coach Phil Housley (link). Housley just finished the third year of a three-year contract he signed with Arizona in June of 2019. It’s unclear what the next step is for the Hall of Fame defenseman, who previously spent two seasons as the Head Coach of the Buffalo Sabres, but the 58-year-old should be able to find opportunities if he wants them, considering his lengthy resume on and off the ice. As for Arizona, it does not appear that any additional changes are coming to the coaching staff, outside of possibly replacing Housley, but first-year Head Coach Andre Tourigny has drawn very favorable reviews despite Arizona’s struggles.
  • The Buffalo Sabres announced that they have reassigned forward Peyton Krebs and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to the Rochester Americans of the AHL ahead of Rochester’s playoff series against the Belleville Senators. Both players, who were sent to Rochester on paper on March 21st, are eligible to compete for the team in the Calder Cup playoffs. The two have each spent time in Rochester and Buffalo this season and are viewed as key pieces of Buffalo’s future. For now, they will get valuable experience competing in professional playoff games.

Snapshots: Mittelstadt, Kadri, Hogberg

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Buffalo Sabres youngster Casey Mittelstadt looked like he may be taking a long-awaited step forward last season with his biggest role and best offensive production yet, but an injury-riddled season has seen Mittelstadt take a step back in his development, a concerning look for the eighth-overall pick considering he’s already 23. But after sitting down with Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe, Mittelstadt detailed his extensive struggle with a recurring upper-body injury this year, one that’s kept him out of the lineup at length and has caused him to be shuffled around constantly when healthy, not finding any chemistry with consistent linemates. Sabres fans will remember that Mittelstadt sustained an injury in the first period of the season, causing him to subsequently miss more than 20 games and then re-aggravate the injury soon after returning. It’s been a lengthy, trying season for the young American, but he feels as though he’s settling back into his game ahead of next season.

More from around the NHL on this Wednesday night:

  • Via a cryptic tweet, it appears as though Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri is making his return to the lineup tonight after missing the entirety of April with an upper-body injury. The original hope was that Kadri would be able to recover from the injury, suffered on March 31st against the San Jose Sharks, in time for the playoffs. That goal appears to have been exceeded here, and Kadri will get the chance to add to his career-high 83 points with six games left to go in the season. The team still managed to go 7-1-0 in his absence.
  • Defenseman Linus Hogberg is expected to make his NHL debut tomorrow for the Philadelphia Flyers, making him the tenth(!) player to make his NHL debut for the team this season. Hogberg is in the midst of his first full season in North America, making his AHL debut with Lehigh Valley after being recalled from a loan that had him playing in his native Sweden. The two-way defenseman actually put up more points last season there in 26 games (eight) than he has this year in 57 (seven), but the team seems to want to give their 139th overall selection back in 2016 a brief crack at the NHL.

Snapshots: Kadri, Brown, Michigan State

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The injury situation for the Colorado Avalanche’s top six forwards went from bad to worse over a week ago when Nazem Kadri went down with an upper-body injury. While the team did expect Kadri to be healthy before the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater reports that he could be back well before then, potentially returning to the lineup within the next week. Kadri actually still leads the Avalanche with 83 points, a mark he’s held as Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog have both missed significant time with injuries this year. The team’s actually only played three games without Kadri, as a sparse schedule over the past week and a half has done them favors. J.T. Compher has filled in Kadri’s spot, registering two points in three games (both came against Pittsburgh on April 5th). With Colorado having a stranglehold on the Western Conference regular-season title, the Avalanche hope to get Kadri back in order to continue building chemistry among their new acquisitions as the playoffs near.

A couple of other hockey-related notes:

Colorado Expects Nazem Kadri To Be Back Before Playoffs

at CDT | by 3 Comments

During his postgame availability today after a nail-biting 3-2 over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said center Nazem Kadri will “miss some time” with injury but should be back for the start of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kadri appeared to sustain an upper-body injury during Colorado’s 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on March 31st. Converged on by Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier, Kadri was sandwiched between the two and was attended to on the ice by a member of the team’s medical staff. Kadri missed a few shifts but returned and played the rest of the game with a pair of bandages on his face, getting two assists on the Avalanche’s third and fourth goals of the game.

Smashing his career-highs in assists (57) and points (83) as one of the team’s most consistent forwards this year, he now joins Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon as other top Avalanche forwards to miss time with injury this season. His production as the No. 2 man behind MacKinnon on the Colorado center depth chart is crucial for the team’s playoff success, and with the team being virtually a lock for the Western Conference regular-season title, let alone a playoff spot, the team will likely take his recovery slowly.

With less than a month left in the 2021-22 campaign, more will be asked of the team’s checking forwards to intensify their game. New acquisition Artturi Lehkonen could find himself in a top-six role for the time being with injuries to both Kadri and Landeskog.

NHL Announces Player Assignments For Skills Competition

at CDT | by 12 Comments

The NHL All-Star Skills competition will take place tomorrow night in Las Vegas, and the league has announced ahead of time which players will participate in which events. The player assignments for the seven events are as follows:

Fastest Skater

Chris Kreider, NYR
Adrian Kempe, LAK
Kyle Connor, WPG
Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH
Jordan Kyrou, STL
Dylan Larkin, DET
Cale Makar, COL
Connor McDavid, EDM           

Save Streak

Jack Campbell, TOR
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL
Frederik Andersen, CAR
Tristan Jarry, PIT
Cam Talbot, MIN
Juuse Saros, NSH
Thatcher Demko, VAN
John Gibson, ANA

Fountain Face-Off

Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA
Claude Giroux, PHI
Jordan Eberle, SEA
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson
Roman Josi, NSH
Nick Suzuki, MTL
Zach Werenski, CBJ
Mark Stone, VGK

Hardest Shot

Adam Pelech, NYI
Timo Meier, SJS
Victor Hedman, TBL
Tom Wilson, WSH

Breakaway Challenge

Goalies: Manon Rhéaume & Wyatt Russell

Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
Trevor Zegras, ANA
Jack Hughes, NJD
Alex DeBrincat, CHI
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK

Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22

Nazem Kadri, COL
Auston Matthews, TOR
Joe Pavelski, DAL
Steven Stamkos, TBL
Brady Tkachuk, OTT

Accuracy Shooting

Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Clayton Keller, ARI
Rasmus Dahlin, BUF
Sebastian Aho, CAR
Jake Guentzel, PIT
Troy Terry, ANA
Johnny Gaudreau, CGY
Patrice Bergeron, BOS
Jonathan Marchessault, VGK

Two new events, the Fountain Face-Off and 21 in ’22 will be held outside in the Bellagio fountain and Las Vegas strip respectively. Individual winners of each event will earn $30,000.

Snapshots: Three Stars, All-Star Skills, Muzzin

at CDT | by 8 Comments

The NHL has revealed its Three Stars for last week, with Nazem Kadri taking home the top spot. The Colorado Avalanche forward continues his incredible campaign with eight more points in four games, including three game-winning goals. The pending unrestricted free agent is having quite the platform year and is now just two points shy of his previous career-high in scoring with half the season to play. Sitting at 18 goals and 59 points in 40 games, Kadri is in for a huge contract in the offseason.

Second and third went to Frederik Andersen and Johnny Gaudreau respectively after their own outstanding weeks. The Carolina Hurricanes netminder posted another perfect 3-0 record and now leads the NHL with 24 wins. His .929 save percentage is easily the best of his career and puts him directly into the Vezina conversation. Gaudreau meanwhile is another pending UFA having an incredible year, with the difference being that he’s done this before. He registered 99 points in 2018-19, good enough for fourth place in the Hart Trophy race, and is once again playing at that level. With eight points in four games last week he continues to storm up the NHL leaderboard and now sits seventh in the league with 52 points.

  • The NHL All-Star Skills competition will have a pair of new events this year, as the league announced the Fountain Face-Off and Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22. The former will take place in the fountains of the Bellagio and will need players to travel by boat to a platform and attempt to shoot pucks at targets floating in other parts of the water. For the latter, contestants will try to achieve a hand of 21 by shooting pucks at card targets out on the Las Vegas strip. Also making a return will be the Breakaway Challenge, where Trevor Zegras will join special guests Manon Rheaume and actor Wyatt Russell for the first time the event has been held since 2016.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs can’t wait for the All-Star break to come, as the team has already ruled out Jake Muzzin their last two matches before the weekend festivities. The veteran defenseman is dealing with a concussion and after skating the last few days, was absent from morning skate today. Head coach Sheldon Keefe explained that Muzzin “is going to take a bit of a step back” through the break as the team’s medical staff continues to monitor him.

NHL Announces 2022 All-Star “Last Men In”

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The NHL All-Star rosters were revealed a few days ago, with one final spot open for each division. Those spots were filled by the “Last Men In” today following a fan vote.

For the Atlantic Division, the last man in is Steven Stamkos, captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the team’s third All-Star. He’ll join Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy at the event, which will be held on the weekend of February 4-5. Stamkos is having a brilliant bounce-back season with 18 goals and 46 points in 39 games.

In the Metro, Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers was the vote-in choice, but due to personal reasons, he will not be attending. Instead, Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins will take his place. While refusing an All-Star appearance is normally a one-game suspension, that does not appear to be the case for Zibanejad. Guentzel is certainly a worthwhile replacement, as he is currently tied for seven in the league with 20 goals and has scored them in just 32 games.

For the Central, the obvious choice was Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri and the fans did not disappoint. Fifth in the league with 49 points this season, Kadri is having a career year and arguably deserved the All-Star bid ahead of teammate Nathan MacKinnon, who will also be there (along with Cale Makar, making it three for the Avalanche).

Another obvious snub when the lists were announced will be rectified as Troy Terry was the Pacific’s last man in, celebrating his breakout season. The 24-year-old forward sits sixth in league scoring with 22 goals in just 38 games, more than doubling his previous career total.

Injury Notes: Shesterkin, Landeskog, Kadri

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

There’s some good news for the New York Rangers coming soon. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports that although goalie Igor Shesterkin won’t dress tonight, he’s “making progress” after taking the ice at practice this morning. Shesterkin was classified as day-to-day after a scary-looking lower-body injury last week forced him out of the lineup and onto injured reserve. He had an impeccable .937 save percentage through 18 games this year, and should certainly still be considered a candidate for the Vezina Trophy at this point in time. Backup Alexandar Georgiev has risen to the occasion after a tough start, though, posting a save percentage above .920 in three straight Rangers wins with Shesterkin absent.

More injury notes, both from Denver:

  • Injuries continue to hold back the Avalanche in 2021-22, as head coach Jared Bednar said today that captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss roughly two weeks with a lower-body injury. All of their top trio of him, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen has missed time this season. Landeskog was a main focal point of Colorado’s offense, netting 27 points through 22 games this year. Andre Burakovsky will slot in his place alongside MacKinnon and Rantanen for the time being.
  • After missing Friday’s game with a lower-body injury, Nazem Kadri will be out again tonight but will likely be back Tuesday, according to Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater. Kadri has been the glue of this team throughout their injury troubles this year, scoring 23 assists and 34 points through just 22 games. Mikhail Maltsev, who was recalled today, will get into the lineup with Kadri’s absence.

Nazem Kadri’s Eight-Game Suspension Upheld

at CDT | by 6 Comments

For the second time, the eight-game suspension of Nazem Kadri has been upheld. This time by neutral arbitrator Shyam Das, the final appeal Kadri can make after the suspension was already upheld by commissioner Gary Bettman. The decision was first reported by Darren Dreger of TSN.

Kadri has already served six of the eight games, meaning he will be eligible to return for the Colorado Avalanche in game seven of their current series, should it go that far.

In the decision, Das explains that the “key factor” in Department of Player Safety head George Parros’ decision to issue and Bettman’s decision to uphold an eight-game suspension was Kadri’s history of supplementary discipline.

It is true that in this case, unlike his two most recent suspensions in the 2018 and 2019 playoffs, respectively, Kadri did not act in an emotional, hotheaded or retaliatory manner, but in this instance, unlike those two prior ones, there was an injury — a significant one — to the opposing player. Parros testified that the DPS believed that Kadri’s history showed the message was not getting through, and that the discipline needed to go up from the most recent five-playoff game suspension issued to Kadri — without doubling that suspension as had been done in some other cases — in order to send a strong message. The Commissioner came to the same conclusion as the DPS, after also taking into account the comparisons with other players that the NHLPA presented to him.

Das had previously reduced the lengthy suspensions for Tom Wilson and Austin Watson, but Kadri was not so lucky. His appeal has been denied and he will serve the full eight games before being eligible to return to action.

NHL Upholds Nazem Kadri’s Eight-Game Suspension

at CDT | by 8 Comments

June 2: Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reports that Kadri’s hearing with the neutral arbitrator is set for Friday.

May 31: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld the eight-game suspension that the Department of Player Safety assessed to Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. Kadri had appealed the decision looking for a reduction, but Bettman concluded that the discipline handed out was warranted.

In the decision, Bettman notes that the NHLPA attempted to compare Kadri’s disciplinary history to that of Tom Wilson, Radko Gudas, Brad Marchand, and Zac Rinaldo, arguing that recent decisions regarding those players “illustrate the concept that if a Player plays clean for a given amount of time,” he should not be considered a player who repeatedly violates the league rules. The commissioner did not agree with this assertion, even directly examining the records of each player and comparing them to Kadri. While the NHLPA asserted that a four-game suspension would have been the correct discipline, Bettman disagreed.

The Avalanche forward can now appeal to a neutral arbitrator, though that process only examines the methodology used by the league to determine the length of the suspension and does not make a ruling on the actual incident itself. Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey now reports that Kadri will indeed pursue this route as Wilson did in 2018. In that case, the 20-game suspension that Wilson received was reduced to 14 by the neutral arbitrator Shyam Das, the same one that Kadri will have hear his case.

Kadri has already served three games of the suspension, all Colorado wins.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top