Avalanche's dynasty nearly derailed by one massive offseason decision
Photo credit: The Canadian Press
There's growing evidence that the Avalanche might reunite with fan-favourite, power-forward Nazem Kadri via trade with the Calgary Flames. Colorado's roster would look drastically different if they had brought back Kadri when they had the chance.
The Avalanche's path to a championship nearly veered in an entirely different direction, hinging on a single pivotal choice that might have altered the course of their franchise.
Strong evidence suggests the Avalanche could reunite with Cup hero.
Conor Lively from Mile High Sticking writes that in 2022, fresh off their Stanley Cup win, the Avalanche faced a major dilemma in free agency: whether to re-sign Kadri or winger Valeri Nichushkin.
Both had played crucial roles in the team's championship run, proving to be vital components in the top six alongside stars Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and captain Gabriel Landeskog. As top targets on the open market, keeping both was unlikely, forcing the Avalanche to make a difficult choice.
"Looking at Kadri's performance over his three seasons with Calgary and you could still argue that Colorado made the right choice. Until you bring up Nichushkin missing crucial games in both the playoff series against Seattle and then Dallas the following year. If Nichushkin has to enter the NHL Player Assistance program again, then he would be suspended for a year, with no guarantee of reinstatement." -Lively
Those changes alone are significant, but there's more to it. Had the Avalanche re-signed Kadri, their entire roster would look drastically different today. Since their 2022 Stanley Cup, Colorado's biggest roster issue, aside from Landeskog's injury, has been the glaring vacancy at second-line center. It's a hole they've struggled to fill until recently, when they re-signed Brock Nelson this offseason after acquiring him at last year's trade deadline, potentially solving that long-standing problem.
"First, they tried Ryan Johansen, who wasn't a fit in the offense because he just didn't have the speed. It's also been said that he wasn't a great presence in the locker room. After they dumped him on Philadelphia and traded for Casey Mittlestadt, I thought they had found the answer. Mittlestadt was a young, skilled offensive player who had been stuck in Buffalo. Surely he would breakout in the Avalanche system. Obviously that wasn't the case." -Lively
If the Avalanche had re-signed Kadri, the entire roster construction might have unfolded differently. There likely wouldn't have been a need to acquire Johansen, which could have opened the door for Alex Newhook to grow into a more defined role as a third-line center behind Kadri.
"I still think Nichushkin is a key piece for the top six and with how he handled himself this past season, it seems as if he's gotten a handle on the personal issues he's dealt with. But the fact that Colorado has spent three seasons tossing players at that 2C hole and trading away many, often valuable, assets to do so has been frustrating." -Lively
At this point, I believe the Avalanche wouldn't been better off keeping Kadri. They likely would've had a stronger shot at winning those playoff matchups against Seattle and Dallas. The biggest issue, in my opinion, is that they ended up giving up too many assets trying to replace what he brought to the lineup.
With five years left on his deal, Nichushkin still has ample opportunity to justify the Avalanche's decision and show they made the right call.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 19 | 46 ANSWERS Avalanche's dynasty nearly derailed by one massive offseason decision Who would you rather have on your team? | ||
| Valeri Nichushkin | 29 | 63 % |
| Nazem Kadri | 17 | 37 % |
| List of polls | ||
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