June 5th: After last night’s 4-2 Colorado Avalanche win, coach Jared Bednar announced that Nazem Kadri would be “out the rest of the series” against the Oilers and “possibly longer” in case the Avalanche advance to the Stanley Cup final. Kadri reportedly left Rogers Place with his arm in a cast, as well. While we are awaiting full confirmation on the exact nature of Kadri’s injury, it’s clear this will be a significant one for Kadri and the Avalanche, and a play that Evander Kane may need to answer to the Department of Player Safety for. Kadri’s agent, Darren Ferris, relayed extreme unhappiness about his client’s injury to The Athletic’s Peter Baugh, stating:
I think it’s incumbent on the league to address this targeted hit on Nazem with an appropriate suspension. If they don’t address such a serious and dangerously callus hit, shame on them.
It’s unclear at this time whether Kane will face discipline for the hit, but we should get more information on that relatively soon. The Avalanche now have a commanding 3-0 series lead and are on the cusp of capturing the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl and heading to the Stanley Cup Final. Any discipline handed down to Kane may not end up making a major difference in the series and the Avalanche’s season, but Kadri’s absence likely will. He’s been one of the team’s most important players and is someone they have to hope will be ready for Game One of the Stanley Cup Final, should the Avalanche manage to qualify.
June 4th: Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri was forced to leave Game Three of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers just a minute into the action after taking a hit from Edmonton’s Evander Kane into the boards. Kane was assessed a five minute major for boarding on the play, but was not ejected from the game. Kadri remained on the ice next to the end boards for several minutes before being helped off the ice.
After the play, referees Wes McCauley and Eric Furlatt conferred to discuss the call, initially ruling it a major penalty before reviewing the play, ultimately confirming their call. Losing Kadri for any stretch of time is a massive blow to the Avalanche, who are now without one of their premier offensive and defensive forwards and their second line center. On top of losing one of their most important players, Colorado will also have to play without a forward for nearly the entire game, unless Kadri should return. Though teams regularly play with 11 forwards in the lineup, they do so with seven defensemen dressed. On the same note, Edmonton came into the game dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen, so the decision not to eject Kane from the game is a major relief for the Oilers.
The 2021-22 season has been nothing short of spectacular for Kadri, who amassed 87 points in just 71 games in the regular season, not missing a beat in the playoffs, putting up 14 points in 12 games coming into tonight. Colorado currently holds a 2-0 lead over Edmonton in the Western Conference Finals, giving them some room to breathe, however the team has not been this far in the playoffs in two decades and still must close out the series before winning another if they would like to clinch a Stanley Cup, and Kadri’s presence in the lineup could be imperative to doing so.
i think they could have considered tossing him based off of game 2’s Kane frustration penalty after penalty rolling over to today. Gretsky literally just said he wouldn’t be surprised if he’s suspended for at least a game. That whole probability of paralysis thing, you can’t do what he did regardless of how biased I am
Karma.
Kane is a bitch
Enter the mouthbreathers saying this is karma for Binnington
And Faulk last year, Wingels in 2018, and DeBrusk in 2019.
No…I am your father!
me personally, i loved the hit by Calle Rosen on Binnington. I want all avs opponents to take out their own teammates, just dont injure any of your teammates too longterm, unless Todd Bertuzzi decides to unretire
This is karma for Binnington
This BS of teams getting behind in series and then start running the other teams key players is bogus.
Rangers did it in their first 2 series. NHL is spineless when it comes to discipline. This is why you can’t find NHL news on the espn site. It falls after cricket and every other sport imagined. Garbage league
If the Rangers win the Cup, Jacob Trouba MUST be awarded the Conn Smythe.
They lose in 5 to an AHL goalie if not for his chicken wing.
The Jordan Binnington situation was different. Entirely. The ignorance of that comment makes you look and sound ridiculous.
The NHL found no reason to believe the hit was malicious; and nobody other than a handful of ignorant fans see it as malicious.
As for Evander Kane, he’s got a worse reputation for dirty hits across his career than Nazem Kadri. He’ll get his due, whether it’s a suspension, or Colorado just playing this series as they have and eliminating the Oilers quickly.
see ya next season Evander
If kadri did he is out and suspended. wonder if kane bet money on colorado today. maybe he and phil mikkelson are in on a bet lol. I do feel sorry kane he is named after of the biggest two faced humans alive.holyfield mr religion married but having babies with other women.
Kane is a thug. His thuggish ways will not keep Colorado from winning this series.
Edmonton will never win as long as Ken Holland is GM. He is a disaster.
(scritches his head) Err, come again? Edmonton’s in the Cup semi-finals. That looks very much like a win to me.
And however much he’s a thug, it’s tough to call signing Evander Kane a “disaster” — his scoring helped put the Oilers into the playoffs in the first place, and he’s the leading goalscorer in the playoffs … does Edmonton get this far without him?
I swear to heaven, this inane mindset of “Unless we win the Cup, our players are bums and our coaches are losers and our GMs are disasters” …
Kane and Kadri are both thuggish louts. Ken Holland is an inept hasbeen. Those are facts, not exaggerations. Edmonton is done. Another fact.
Kane has been a thug his whole career. It’s really a shame that so much talent is wasted on such a garbage human.
If he isn’t suspended then it will be a real indicator of how weak the NHL leadership is.
If Kane is allowed on the ice next game he is virtually guaranteed to injure somebody
Lots of mouthbreathers
Kane’s little push from behind would have been unlikely to injure someone in a wheelchair. Stuff like that goes on in front of the net on every possession. No penalty should have been called. On the other hand, the slewfoot that felled Draisaitl a few moments later, a foul that the league has been working hard to eliminate, was ignored by the officials.
Yeah highly unlikely to hurt anyone, guy must certainly be faking it, especially one of the leading players a minute into Game 3 of the conference finals and looking to cash in during a contract season…SMH.
yea like based off of that comment we should have also dropped a peoples elbow on Draisaitl after his flops
Setting aside supposed reputations of any player – hits like this don’t belong in the game. Our problem – the league doesn’t have the guts to deal with these idiots.
Bring back the enforcers.
… because, of course, there were NEVER any cheap shots when guys like McSorley were on the ice?
Oh, wait.
No place for this type of hit regardless of player or team. He deserves a game minimum and more if Kadri is out longer. Guy is constantly in trouble on a yearly basis, not a good look for the nhl imo.
There are injuries that are the result of an “illegal” action and injuries that occur when no rule has been broken. Kane’s shove of Kadri may have technically been penalizable but such actions take place every few seconds in an NHL game and are rarely called. MacKinnon’s slew foot of Draisaitl was an illegal hit with the potential for serious injury. Maybe, instead of taking the rules into consideration, just the actual injury should be the basis for a penalty call. If a slap shot from the point rips the teeth out of a defenseman, the shooter should be penalized. Why are hooks on breakaways penalized if the puck carrier can skate away?
And another dumb take…
Kadri is a dirty player and has several dirt plays credited to him. Kane is dirty. Kane just got to Kadri first.
100% accurate.
Team loyalties aside, having top players out for the Cup finals cheats fans out of best vs best matchups. Injuries happen, but these types of injuries are unnecessary.