Nazem Kadri Returns!! Avalanche Make a Last Minute Trade With Calgary to Bring Back Fan Favorite

0:00All right, everybody, we didn't think that it was going to happen. You're kind of accepting that it was not going to happen, and then it happened. And Nazum Kadri is back with Colorado. Let's talk about it. A new episode of Lockdown Avalanche coming at you. Your Lockdown Avalanche, your daily podcast on the Colorado Avalanche, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Lockdown Avalanche, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm your host, Chris Maselli joining me as always, Mr. Zach Pearson. Thank you for tuning in. And like I said, I want to say, making it your first listen of the day, but it's likely your second listen of the day because you've already listened to the first listen of our regular Lockdown Avalanche podcast. But craziness has happened, and yeah, a special episode is needed because we didn't think

1:02this was a thing. We kind of, like I said, we're accepting that the deal that we heard yesterday fell through. So you kind of just say, okay, it seems like they made a go at it. It seems like Calgary was the one who said, nope. So you just kind of accept it, but Chris McFarland gets down to work and makes it happen. And now some codgers coming back. Wow. Wow, is all you can really say right now. So go ahead. Wow is absolutely right. I am so pumped for Nas to be back with the Colorado Avalanche. We've been talking about it a lot this season because it was absolutely a potential for this to happen. Rumors kind of kept swirling all around. I don't know if you saw this too, Chris, but apparently Nas went on TSN, why if I didn't see that? Yeah. And like first thing he said was, man, I was sweating. I didn't realize it could take this long for this to be announced after the trade deadline. But they must have snuck it in at the very last moment. And then too, he says, this is my number one place I wanted to go. Colorado is where I want it to be.

2:04I kind of believe him too, because he was loved here and it seemed like he had a good time playing here. I don't fault him for going for money, but my goodness am I happy to have him back. Yeah, we'll break it all down in a minute. And we have, we've talked about it a lot. And the questions I have about it are still there. It doesn't take away from the excitement of one of the most beloved players. I don't want to say even in the last 10 years, really, of all time when it comes to Colorado Avalanche hockey. Like for the short amount of time that he was with Colorado, I don't think I've seen like the fan base take to a guy as much as they did Nazim Kodry. And even though he wasn't here long, it hurt people when he left. And like you said, I completely understand they wanted to keep him. He went to what he thought was a good situation in Calgary. And he got money in the process. I never fault a guy for doing that. But you can tell there's still, when it's just right for a guy with the team,

3:09with the city, with the fan base, guys don't forget that stuff. He doesn't, he didn't forget what this fan base did when they backed him up. The way that they did with all that nonsense in St. Louis. Still one of the best moments in Avalanche history when he got that hat trick went when they were just on godly to him. It's, yeah, I mean, he's a few years older, obviously. And we'll get into how we think all this is going to work. But again, sure, like do I have questions on how it's going to work? Yeah, they're not bad questions. They're not like, I don't think it's going to work. I think it's going to be just fine. But again, that doesn't take away from getting just a beloved player back. This, I say this doesn't happen a lot. It doesn't, but it's different like you got it with EJ, right? Eric Johnson came back, but that was different. You knew he wasn't going to play all the time. That was like a, a good locker room move, but he gave you some games there.

4:12He gave you some really good minutes when he needed to, but that was his role. Codry coming back is a completely different animal. Codry coming back is you are expected to do exactly what you did last time you were here. So get ready. And this just puts the Avalanche in, you know, really another category. Like they are already with where they're at in the standings, but good Lord. Like this just with all the moves that they made. And once again, they make kind of like these, these, these good calculated moves that make them better. You've got the only thing you can go back to right now is the power play. Outside of that, where is this team hurting? No, where? No, where? And like, let's just take a quick second to appreciate your center right now, your center depth. Nathan McKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazum Codry, Christianry or Nicholas law, either of those two. When you have a warrior wall, then most likely I would guess Nick law as your four C.

5:18And then it's Codry and then it's Nelson and then it's McKinnon like my goodness. That is got to be one of the best center depths. If not the best center depth in the NHL, right? I would think so. You got maybe a couple of questions about where people slot in. We know Olipson went back and I know we'll break that down, but that means grow your wall, go to a wing. And your center is just so taken care of it, but if you're feeling good about everything you can do. Let's break it down. Here is the trade. If you're watching on YouTube, I just put the graphic up that the abs put up on their social page. So the abs not only get Nazum Codry, they get a fourth on pick. Sure. Right? Sure. With how the finite deals that are trade draft picks that you have, we'll take that. So it's a 2027 fourth round pick. Going to Calgary is Victor Olipson, the rights to Max Kirin, your prospect there.

6:20And then you give them a conditional 2028 first round pick and a conditional 2027 second round pick. I don't know what those conditions are right now, we were kind of recording this. Quickly after the details have been announced, we'll figure out what the details are. But also, yes, retention. That was the big deal that I don't think the ads would have done this trade if there was zero retention. And there was 20%. So Codry makes a even 7 million. That's 1.4 coming off of his 7 million. So 5.6 is not bad for what Nazum Codry can give you. So I don't. And you are getting him for multiple years. Yeah. So I was that that was it. I understand that that Calgary did not want to retain anything. And I understand that for a guy that has as much term as he has left on his contract. I completely understand that.

7:20So not a kind of going back on that. And that's what happens at the trade deadline. Teams have you saw it. Some teams stuck to what they wanted to get in return. The Rangers did it with Trochec. Yep. Ristilainen. The flyers like they were like, no, where we're sticking to it. And they stuck to their guns and did not make trades for those guys. Calgary clearly wanted to do this because they said no yesterday to whatever the deal was, which rumor is it was similar to this. I didn't see Olowsson in the deal for the one that they said no to. But apparently the powers that he did not want to do the retention thing. So fast forward 24 hours. And I think there were other deals on the table. And when when that happens, clearly the team says, what's the best one? The abs had the best one. They did this last year with Brock Nelson. There were multiple offers for Brock Nelson. And the islanders went with what the best deal was. And that was obviously the ablash. So he's kind of glad you have to applaud McFarlane because he gets this stuff done.

8:26He gets the stuff done. And this is this is not I don't think that this is a deal that is going to hurt them long term. Sure, you give up another first round pick. We talked about the picks yesterday. How I'm not I'm trying to not be so connected to the draft picks when you have a team that is as good as they are right now. The guy that you draft now is not going to help, you know, helps you in four years, maybe three, four years, not right now. They want to win right now. They just went out and proved it. Not only is it maybe like he helps you in four years, he maybe helps you in four years. A draft pick is not a guaranteed to hit either. We know who Nazim Kodri is. And we know that he is going to a he's going to be an effort, working hard, doing everything with the right way, because we've seen it. So we know that right now he's going to contribute to this team. Like there's no reason to think otherwise. If everybody in avalanche, fandom, nation, country, everywhere, avalanche, related universe

9:28is so excited for Cadre to come back for good reason. And myself, I'm very much included in that. All right, let's get a break in. We come back from that. Yeah, how is this all going to work? That kind of went down who the centers are, is that how they're going to line up? So let's get a quick break in and we'll do that on the other side. Here from Fandool, college basketball is nonstop, big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From early tip-offs to late night, west coast, shootouts, there's always action on the board. And now Fandool is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. Head to Fandool.com right now to get started. Fandool.com, you can play your game with Fandool and get in, con college, basketball, the NCAA bracket, all that fun stuff right around the corner, best place to do it over at Fandool. Check them out.

10:29Okay, so how is this all going to work now, sir? Is, oh, by the way, Valencia Schuskin is still a part of the avalanche, which that, all that stuff obviously did not come to fruition. So how's it going to break down? The question that I had with the big one was, I don't think Audrey wants to do a third line center. Okay, where does he fit in if you want to put him at a wing, which he could do that, but where's the opening for you within your top six for a wing position? I mean, with Leckin and Out, sure, and that might be where this gets a little bit easier for the avalanche is because Leckin ends out if you want Audrey in your top six, then you can kind of slot him in there and he'll be just fine, he'll be just just fine. Or, I mean, see, like with the whole Nick Waffing, I kind of feel you brought him in

11:30to be a third line center. And I think that's, he's very capable of doing that because if you put cadre on your third line center, you know, Nick Waw, then what? I mean, if he goes to your fourth line center, then what are you going to do with Jack Drewry? Because he's very capable of being a fourth line center. So you're back to this situation with the avalanche where it's like a gluttony of riches and have fun, Jared Bednar sorting all of this out. Well, that is, that is Jared Bednar is very, very good problem to have. I promise you, if you told him, hey, here's a problem you get to have after today. He goes, sign me up right now. So puckpedia, because I've got that up, they have cadre sitting at the third line center. They moved Waw to the right wing on the third line and put Drewry on the fourth line center. I don't hate that either. And like you said, this is, this is literally a gluttony of riches at the moment. They've got Keevy Ranta and Brindley on the fourth line wings and then Kelly and Waw

12:33on the third line wings. I don't, I know Brindley was sent down, but probably just more of a paper transaction might have been brought back up. There was a method to that, yes, it's a long thing with the trade deadline. And if you have to, because he hasn't been sent down all year and you have to send him down to, if you do want to send him down after the trade deadline, you can, it's, but then they also were able to pull him back up to day without him playing for the Eagles. So I think he's probably back up, just like I said, paper transaction type of situation. So Brindley, Keevy and Drewry as your fourth line, I mean, that seems like a very capable fourth line. And then, I mean, because obviously, obviously, Olaf's in has gone. So yeah, I mean, you do have an opening there for Waw to play on a wing if you want him to. If you do want cadre to be your center. And then L.O.C. is going to be in the mix here soon too.

13:34So now that's where it potentially gets really weird for me, because you know, Leckinins going to come back soonish when Leckie comes back that pushes Colton down to the third line, right? So that probably pushes Kelly then down to the fourth line, which pushes Brindley down to the Eagles. But why, well, my question is like, why did they not do this with Bartikov? So on, I don't, that's, that's kind of a little bit of a mystery to me right now. That's a great question. Yeah. Because if you're telling me you're going to keep either Brindley up or Bartikov up, I'd probably go with Brindley. Probably. Yeah, I don't know. The other thing is post trade deadline. You can have as many players on just a roster as you want. You don't, you don't have to have the 25 man roster. You can have as long as you're under the cap, you could have 30 guys on your roster if you want as long as you're under the cap. So we'll, we'll, I mean, yeah, because I mean, if it's crazy, like Leckinins comes back

14:36and you have, you know, Colton or, you know, he's obviously a third line guy, L.O.C. You just brought in Nick Waw, you just brought in Coddry. It's just. Well, and L.O.C.'s cap is the only thing that I think is going to be a question. I wonder if Brindley's not the one that got sent down today to be able to be sent down later because he's a little bit higher cost than Bartikov. So then you can keep Bartikov up as an in case, in case he is, in case somebody gets injured and you need someone to play without going over the L.T.'s or over the cap, sorry, not the L.T. I can see that. That's the only thing, but the other thing is too, that's only a $90,000 difference. That's not that big of a deal. So I, I agree. I don't really get that entirely, but that's decisions that are made, and I'm trying my best to understand all these cap rules, but my gosh, man, it is intense. It is a lot. Yeah. We'll see. I wanted to bring up, not that, I want to bring up the Coddry J Fresh page just because still got it.

15:37Yeah. Well, as it dropped off a little bit there, you can see, and in 2526, but overall, those are all very nice percentages. Yeah. Also, dropped off in 2526 on a really bad 2526 Calgary Flames team. I do want people to, because I know there will be some people that say he's not who he was. I still think he has the potential to be. He may not be exactly the guy, but he's still got that potential and playing on a bad Calgary team doesn't help. Playing on a really good avalanche team is going to help. Obviously, we were familiar with him. Not afraid to mix it up. So the abs, the abs got better, they got bigger, they got stronger. You really can't ask them to do anything more than what they did in this. I don't know the term for it. I'm going to say minor moves, not minor moves. There are few moves, but big moves. Yeah.

16:37These whole steel changes anywhere, and they didn't do that. And, and could help on that power play. Could you do that power play at Joltz? Because like we're saying, throwing anything at the wall right now, I'll throw it down some cadre in that. Oh, yeah. And go mix it up, he's more than capable of doing that. Oh, so. Sure, man. This is nuts. Yeah. I do want to know, how does this move the needle? Obviously, abs fans were thinking the abs are pretty well set for Stanley Cup. In my mind, they got to be the clear and away favorites at this point, right? I think they were, even if they didn't make this move. I think that I even with all the moves that other teams had made, yeah, I think other teams maybe you could say caught up to them a little bit, and it was a little bit more like neck and neck and even with teams like Dallas and Tampa and Caroline and all those, they're still there with them. But this bumps the abs up, this gives a little bit of separation between those teams like back, how you felt the first few months of this season, like man, no, he's going to stop

17:40them. They came back down to earth a little bit, and this has kind of halted them back up. It has to. Has to. I think so. Yeah. I don't think there's any question about it. Does not mean it's a walk in the park. Does not mean other teams can not beat them. You still have to go out and perform. But if you are not excited about what this avalanche team has right now, you need to check your pulse because you might be not existed. You might need to get propped up into a chair somewhere and get the fifth later on it. I think therefore I am. You're no longer thinking and you no longer am because you're not excited about this. Yeah. I agree. This is. And it's just going to get more excited. I mean, he's not going to be there for this game against Dallas, but he can't live from Calgary to Dallas to play tonight. Come on. I don't think so. But apparently, Nick Wai is going to be in there. So get to see one of them. And we'll go from there. So yeah, this feels like we opened the Christmas Eve gift.

18:41And I'm very excited for the Nick Wai Christmas Eve gift. But now we got to wait for Christmas day to get Calgary. Love it. That's a perfect analogy. So. All right. So that is going to wrap it up for now. Yeah. We'll be back later and discussing the game between the abs and the stars. It's almost like, sure, I want to go out and win that because it's Dallas and you love beating them and you get some separation in the standings. If you beat them, but I almost feel like it doesn't matter. We're playing the long game here and in the long game, I'm happy with what this team looks like. Yeah. That is a good fact. To end this on, it's like, if we win tonight, I feel great and I really wanted to win. But I'm going to feel good regardless of the outcome of tonight's game now because I know where this is. I can see your potential finish this is going to say you want to rely because we don't have our full team. Yeah. There's not some countries not here yet. Not here. Get out of here. Come on. This is crazy.

19:42All right. That's going to wrap it up. So yeah, we will be back later. You can break down that abs and stars game. So make sure you are tuned into that one. But for this one, thank you for tuning in, making it your, if it's your first, listen great. Your second, listen, love that too. But we'll be back a little bit later. He is Mr. Zach Pearson. I am Chris Naselli. It's the lockdown Avalanche podcast. You made it through a trade deadline, but you're still that much closer to Sydney Crosby being the Colorado Avenue. Playing alongside now's some country. Oh. Go. Go. Amps go.