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Salary retention holding up a Nazem Kadri trade: report

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Rumours keep on swirling around the Calgary Flames as we approach Friday afternoon’s National Hockey League trade deadline. One of the most prominent Flames appearing in the rumour mill is veteran centre Nazem Kadri.
Over at TSN, they posted a new edition their Insider Trading panel on Thursday evening. As part of the panel, Darren Dreger provided a quick update on the situation regarding Kadri’s future with the Flames – and the challenges in moving a player with such a significant contract on the Flames’ side.
Dreger transitioned into the discussion in the context of the evolving and inter-connected market for established centres.
Here’s Dreger:
So Nic Roy goes to the Colorado Avalanche. Well Colorado was down the road as well with Nazem Kadri and the Calgary Flames. Now, Calgary’s in a position, they just don’t feel comfortable retaining, or at least retaining a good chunk. But it’s going to be interesting to see how that trade interest continues to develop around this veteran forward. He’s a good team guy, he’s a pro. I’m telling you, he will be deeply disappointed if he’s with the Calgary Flames after the trade deadline.So there’s some work to do there for Craig Conroy. Tons of interest, we know, in Coleman. Tons of interest in Zach Whitecloud. But you know what? Right now, Kadri appears to be a tougher sell.
The 35-year-old Kadri joined the Flames as a free agent in the 2022 off-season, and he’s in the fourth year of a seven-year deal with a $7 million cap hit and a 13-team no-trade clause. After this season, he has three more years on his deal. Kadri sits as the Flames’ leading scorer through 60 games, with 41 points, but given his age and the Flames being in the midst of a rebuild, you can understand why Kadri would like to go somewhere he has a shot to win another Stanley Cup.
The challenge is that given Kadri’s age, he’s 35, playing style and the fact he’s under contract until he’s 38, there’s some downside risk that an acquiring team would love to mitigate with salary retention. But the Flames have just one salary retention slot currently available, and they’re probably not enthusiastic about retaining salary for three seasons beyond this one. Especially when you consider that acquiring teams would probably hope that they would retain on a Blake Coleman trade instead.
We’ll see how things pan out with Kadri and the Flames. The trade deadline is Friday at 1 p.m. MT.
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