Western Conference dark horse has entered the Kadri sweepstakes
While the Avalanche attempt to find a way to keep Nazem Kadri, a surprising team has entered the chat for his services. According to Nick Kypreos, the Arizona Coyotes are interested in Kadri's services. Kypreos stated that the Coyotes want to show their fans that even though they are playing in a 5000-seat college arena, they are serious about improving the team.
The Coyotes certainly have the cap space, with $33M to spend and just under $12M to spend before reaching the cap floor. Arizona has an abundance of youth on their roster, but don't really have anyone with Kadri's experience - aside from Andrew Ladd, who was on LTIR most of last season. Adding Kadri would give them a number one center and shield Nick Schmaltz and Jake McBain from playing against other teams' top lines.
Signing Kadri could also show Auston Matthews they are serious about winning and this could be a sign they are beginning their quest to lure the homegrown superstar back to Arizona when his contract expires in a couple of seasons. At the same time as Matthews' contract expiring they Coyotes are hoping to be in their new arena in Tempe. Should they sign Kadri, it will help build the confidence the fan base has in ownership as the Coyotes have not had stable ownership or ownership that has been willing to spend big in free agency in quite some time.
Do I think Auston is going to Arizona? I don't. But we don't know what the landscape will look like two summers from now. If the Yotes are on the rise and the Leafs begin to dip, who really knows?
