Nazem Kadri turned down more money from another NHL team, offer revealed

PUBLICATION

Josh tupper
September 14, 2022 (1:54 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

Nazem Kadri ended up being one of the biggest free agent of the entire summer. After Johnny Gaudreau signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets, everyone looking for high end talent turned their attention to Kadri. Ultimately the Calgary Flames won the Kadri Sweepstakes, signing the center to a 7-year deal worth $49,000,000 in total.

But according to Pierre LeBrun, Kadri actually turned down a 6-year deal worth $51,000,000 when Free Agency began.

Kadri, meanwhile, is believed to have turned down a six-year offer from another club worth $8.5 million AAV pretty early in free agency. The fit obviously wasn't right for him.

I also think given Kadri's relationship with his old GM in Toronto, Lou Lamoriello, that some of the wait- and-see approach was seeing if the Islanders would be able to move cap space and make Kadri a contract offer. There was definitely interest in Kadri from the Islanders.

Ferris, when contacted this week,
would not disclose what other teams were in on Kadri, beyond saying it came down to three clubs before his client chose the Flames. Once Treliving realized he had a real shot at Kadri, he dug in hard.

It would be very interesting to know which team made the offer, but with very few teams with the cap space it could potentially have been the Montreal Canadiens who were rumored to have had interest in the Canadiens, but would not have put Kadri back onto a contending team.

It will be interesting to see if last season for Kadri was a sign of a late bloomer or if simply it was a career year that he can't replicate.