Elliotte Friedman on Nazem Kadri, ‘The Islanders Are In It’

It’s been over two weeks, and the highly touted Nazem Kadri has yet to sign with an NHL team, officially. On the latest ‘32 Thoughts‘ podcast, hosted by Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, Friedman shares some information on Nazem Kadri and what he’s heard about the New York Islanders so far this summer.

The New York Islanders have only made one official transaction this summer, and that was acquiring RFA Alexander Romanov from the Montreal Canadiens at the 2022 NHL Draft. There was footage of Romanov skating in Miami in his New York Islanders gear, which more than likely means he has been signed.

The other important RFA, Noah Dobson, has received a qualifying offer from the New York Islanders per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, but like usual with Lamoriello, no official announcement has been made on an extension.

“I’ve had teams that have told me they think that it’s very possible Noah Dobson’s got a contract extension done,” Friedman said. “Is it true, I don’t know. Is it out of the realm of possibility? No.”

“Tom Brady’s going to throw his first touchdown pass of the season next year and the Islanders are going to be sending out press releases.”

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Signing Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov, if not done already, has a major impact on salary cap space for the New York Islanders. They have about $11 million in space as of now, but every penny counts when a team is trying to bring in a top-flight free agent.

“He’s got two defensemen he’s got to sign, Dobson, Romanov. Nobody would be surprised if he had business done there. And again he might have to do things to open things up.”

Jeff Marek speculated that top free agent Nazem Kadri has a deal in place with the New York Islanders but that New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello is going to hide the deal until October.

“Well I’ve heard that,” Friedman said. “It’s not like it’s ridiculous to believe that, right?”

This is what Elliotte Friedman thinks about the Nazem Kadri situation:

“The Islanders are in it. I thought Colorado was out of it, but someone said to me, don’t be so fast. But what I do think is that, I know there is this rumor around that they would trade Girard to make room for Kadri, I don’t believe that’s true. From what I can tell that’s not what the Avalanche are willing to do. And they have made that clear.  I think what’s happened here is that the Avalanche are still interested in Kadri, but Kadri knows that if he wants to go back there, it’s [his contract] got to be in a certain area.”

“So I think it’s Colorado, if I had to guess, and believe me this is a guess, and I want to stress that this is a guess, I think Colorado and the Islanders are probably the favorites.”

Who knows when we will see a Nazem Kadri announcement but the more time passes, the more it seems like the New York Islanders are a likely destination.