A month into free agency and Nazem Kadri, the biggest name available this off-season, is still unsigned. However, it sounds like there is a deal in place and it should be signed by the end of this week.
This will put an end to an overdrawn saga that saw Kadri seeking $9M per season at one point. He and his agent Darren Ferris terribly overestimated his market value it would seem, particularly after we saw the likes of Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, for deals $9.5M and $9.75M per season, respectively. Both of those players are younger and have had more productive seasons than Kadri, who, before this season, topped out at 61 points. Kadri put up a career high 87 points on an absolutely stacked offensive team in Colorado and at 31 years old, is likely a one-off point total.
NHL reporter John Shannon was on the Sekeres and Price podcast yesterday and said he believes Kadri is just waiting for money to be moved out, which could happen before the end of this week, per his sources.
I do think he ends up with the New York Islanders, I think that there are still some, you know, chairs to move on the deck of the of the cruise ship before that they can announce it, but it wouldn't surprise me that it it gets done this week at some point.
What I do know is that Lou has to move some money too... What becomes the bigger storyline is; how much? Where is Lou moving some of the money to? And and quite frankly have, Darren Ferris, the agent and and Naz - have they finally realized that his price point isn't as high as the one he expected to get near 9 million dollars. So how the information of the deal getting done this week has leaked out is absolutely amazing to me, But I got it from a very good source that it's going to happen very soon.
Latest reports have the Islanders' offer for Kadri at 7x$7M - far below his initial asking price. For Kadri to sign, as John Shannon mentioned, the Islanders and Lamoriello have to move out money before he can sign. With other teams knowing that, Lou is setting himself up to get fleeced again, the same way Joe Sakic fleeced him in the Devon Toews deal.
Either way, once Kadri officially signs, we should expect to see a flurry of activity, as he is currently holding up depth players from signing, as well as the final round of trades before training camp begins.
