On Wednesday night, Calgary Flames forward Nazem Kadri will play his 260th consecutive game for the club.

The clash with the Columbus Blue Jackets will also represent another big milestone: Kadri’s 1,000th career NHL game.

A product of London, Ontario, Kadri played his junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers and his hometown London Knights, and he won an OHL Championship in 2008. He was selected seventh overall in the 2009 NHL Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Kadri made his NHL debut on Feb. 8, 2010 on an emergency recall basis due to a slew of injuries to Maple Leafs forwards, but became a full-time pro the following season. He played 29 NHL games in 2010-11, split primarily between a pair of multi-week call-ups from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. He split three seasons between the Leafs and Marlies before becoming a full-time NHLer in 2013-14.

Equally prone to goal-scoring as he was to rough-and-tumble play during his tenure with the Maple Leafs, Kadri became a bit of a divisive figure within the Leafs fanbase. On one hand, he scored a lot of key goals during his tenure and seemed like someone that genuinely didn’t shy away from the prominence that the Leafs had in the Toronto market. On the other hand, his rugged play occasionally crossed the line, and he developed a reputation for ill-timed penalties – or even suspensions – during his Leafs tenure. His run with the Leafs ended following the 2019 playoffs; the Leafs were eliminated by Boston in seven games, and Kadri missed three games of that series due to a suspension.

After nixing a proposed trade to the Flames earlier during the 2019 off-season – he later explained in podcast interviews and in his book that it was motivated by wanting to stick with the Leafs – Kadri was sent to Colorado on July 1, 2019 along with Calle Rosen and a 2020 third-round pick in exchange for Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round pick. Kadri spent three seasons with the Avalanche, culminating with a Stanley Cup win in 2022. He became a free agent on July 1, 2022.

Roughly seven weeks into free agency, in mid-August, Kadri signed a seven year contract with the Flames with a $7 million AAV. The Flames opened up the cap space to sign Kadri by trading Sean Monahan and a first-round pick to Montreal, part of a tumultuous summer that also saw the Flames lose Johnny Gaudreau to free agency and trade Matthew Tkachuk to Florida. Kadri’s first season with the Flames was a bit shaky, as the entire team adjusted to a radically different roster and shifting roles, but he seemed to really find his footing in 2023-24 under new head coach Ryan Huska.

Since arriving with the Flames at the beginning of 2022-23, Kadri has not missed a single game – and that’s with being in his 30s and playing the style of game that he does. Serving as one of the club’s alternate captains and becoming a fixture on their top offensive lines and their power play, he’s emerged as one of their most important players. He leads the team, in part or outright, in goals, game-winning goals, overtime goals, even strength goals, power play goals and shots since joining the team. He’s been the team’s leading point-scorer in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 and has emerged as one of their most important players during a transitional phase for the franchise.

It’s easy to quibble or speculate about Kadri’s future with the Flames, but looking back on his body of work he’s had a heck of a career and has undeniably been a positive addition to the Flames. We salute him for the impressive accomplishment of reaching 1,000 games played in the NHL.

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