The 35-year-old played in his 1,000th career NHL game on Wednesday night’s 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, becoming the 407th player to reach that distinguished milestone.

But the overarching discussion around Kadri this season has been about other teams’ growing appetite to acquire him and whether Calgary could stomach trading him away.

Flames fans gained a little more insight into that particular conversation on Thursday evening when Darren Dreger — a hockey insider for TSN — reported that Flames majority owner Murray Edwards had little interest in moving on from Kadri, and even expressed his ‘love’ for the team’s core.

Dreger was asked about the chances of Kadri being moved out of Calgary on Thursday’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading:

“Well I think they’re slim at this point… But I think it’s important to note that Nazem Kadri loves Calgary. He wants to win in Calgary, so this is more a supply-and-demand issue. It’s been well-documented the teams out there across the National Hockey League that are looking for a No. 2 centre, and that is essentially what Nazem Kadri is at this stage of his NHL career”
“But I also know that Murray Edwards, the owner of the Calgary Flames, is telling people that he has no interest in trading Nazem Kadri. In fact, he doesn’t want to trade Nazem Kadri. He loves the core of this team.”
“There’s a lot of hockey ahead, a lot of hockey left in this regular season for the Flames, but it doesn’t sound like Flames ownership has any intention of trading away their veteran forward.”

This insight should shut the door on a potential Kadri trade, at least for now.

Though Calgary’s unwillingness to trade Naz is counter to what many believe is best for the team, it’s not all that surprising; selling players that are under contract beyond the season at hand has always been sort of taboo for the Flames.

For many Calgary fans, the Edwards report only confirmed what they had already believed to be true: the organization has a tendency to approach things as though they are a contender, regardless of how the team is faring on the ice.

Despite a two-game win streak, Calgary is still dead last in the league.

The opportunity to acquire substantial assets in return for Kadri is an avenue that general manager Craig Conroy should absolutely be exploring, especially considering the lucrative market for centremen. However, in light of Dreger’s report, the decision on Kadri may not be Conroy’s to make. (Editor’s Note: Or that the offers they’ve received thus far for Kadri have been underwhelming.)

Kadri has four goals and seven assists in 16 games with the Flames this season, and is in year four of seven on his current deal that carries an AAV of $7 million. This season, that contract switched from including a full no-move clause to a 13-team no-trade list.

Things are subject to change this early in the campaign, but as of now, all indications point to Kadri staying put.

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