Early on in the offseason, I wrote a piece about a few blockbuster trades to keep an eye on. Some trades make sense, and others would shake up the hockey world and send many who are on the beaches and lakes into a mad dash to find out the implications. One of the deals that would be a win-win is a Nazem Kadri trade to the New Jersey Devils move.
The Calgary Flames can afford to move the 34-year-old forward. Kadri has four more seasons left on a difficult contract to digest. Calgary defied the pundits last year by making a valiant push for a playoff spot. However, the Flames are still a bubble teams at most. The Devils, a contender who can use the player, can offer value in return that would help Calgary in the near future.
Lately, the offseason hot stove has been ablaze with Kadri trade rumors. Most seem to focus on Toronto. However, it also makes sense to throw New Jersey into the mix.
Devils add a much-needed presence to the top six
The Devils have plenty of skill and offense in their forward unit. That’s undisputed. With Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier, the scoring is there. This allows this team to frequently dominate in the regular season.
The big picture problem is when the Devils make the playoffs. They get overwhelmed by the physical game, and when they inevitably run into the Carolina Hurricanes, they have no answers. It’s why they lost in the second round in 2023 and the first round last season.
The Devils need a top-six forward who adds that to the lineup and defends well. That’s what Kadri is. He’s not a great skater anymore (although he’s still above average). The player won’t take the New Jersey offense to the next level. However, he’s a two-way center and a powerful forward, something the Devils lack in their top-six outside of Timo Meier.
On top of that, Kadri is a scorer, so the offense won’t drop off if the Devils acquire him. Kadri scored 35 goals last season and averages 26 per season, and that’s just the regular season.
Kadri is a playoff-proven x-factor
Kadri isn’t good enough to will a team to the playoffs. The Flames are experiencing this firsthand as they’ve missed the playoffs in each of the three seasons they’ve had him on their roster. He is the type of player who takes a playoff team to the next level.
At first glance, his playoff numbers are impressive as he’s scored 19 goals and 25 assists in 52 playoff games. That’s only a part of it. Kadri on the Colorado Avalanche was the scorer who could find the dirty area goals to make a difference in playoff games. The Avalanche don’t win the Cup in 2022 without him, and they haven’t been the same team since.
The Devils need a player like him for the playoffs. They are good enough to make the playoffs every season but they need a postseason difference maker. They need their version of Sam Bennett or Matthew Tkachuk; a power forward who scores greasy goals while also stepping up defensively. Kadri fits the bill.
The price will be reasonable for the Devils
The Devils have enough salary cap space to take on the rest of Kadri’s contract, which has a $7 million average annual value (AAV) attached to it. Ideally, the Devils save that cap space for when they target Quinn Hughes but that’s a future problem they can address in the 2026 offseason.
By helping the Flames get out of that contract, the Devils won’t need to give in to a high asking price. Instead, they’ll likely move either a prospect or a pick, with the prospect likely being Simon Nemec. Sure, this seems underwhelming for a player of Kadri’s caliber but the Flames just might make this deal.
Why the Flames might do it
The Flames fell one points shy of a playoff spot last season. Calgary and St. Louis each had 96 points in 2024-25. However, the Blues claimed the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference via the regulation wins tiebreaker. Coach Ryan Huska’s club is one of the rebuilding teams closer to contending. They are not interested in tearing it down, something they already did in recent seasons. That said, they are still looking to add skilled youth to the lineup.
One way to do that is by trading Kadri, a 34-year-old skater with only a few more seasons left in the tank, for an NHL-ready prospect. Nemec has fallen out of favor with the Devils but the talent is still there. With the Flames, he can be a reliable blue liner to further strengthen the unit.
Calgary wins games from the net out. Dustin Wolf is one of the elite young goaltenders in the game, and the defensive unit has a few core players on it. Adding Nemec only further strengthens the team at the blue line and allows them to dominate low-scoring games.
The Flames are on the cusp of a return to the playoffs, while the Devils are on the cusp of contention. It’s why a Kadri trade can be a win-win for both sides.
