Avalanche's Nazem Kadri says Colorado is No. 1 choice in free agency

Stanley Cup champion and pending UFA Nazem Kadri joined hosts Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne on the “Real Kyper and Bourne” podcast on Sportsnet, where he was asked about his upcoming free agency and his desire to stay with the Colorado Avalanche. 

When asked if Colorado was his number one choice, Kadri responded, “How could it not be? The Kroenke’s have been great supporters of mine and made it clear to me that they’d like me to stay also, but we understand that there’s a business aspect involved. We’re going to try to work together.” 

As Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now points out, having the Kroenke’s, Avalanche ownership, express the desire to have Kadri stay is a good sign that it could happen, but that doesn’t mean it will be cheap.

Kadri is coming off of a career-year where he scored 87 points in 71 games, adding an additional 15 points in 16 playoff games en route to a Stanley Cup championship. Colorado projects to have just under $25.7M in salary cap space this offseason, however the team does have pending UFAs in Andre Burakovsky, Valeri Nichushkin, Josh Manson and Darcy Kuemper, amongst others, to contend with, on top of a large raise to Nathan MacKinnon next offseason. 

Though it of course won’t be cheap, Kadri showing this level of interest in remaining with Colorado could give the organization some leverage to work out a contract that is not only fair to Kadri but would play into their needs as well.