Preview: Nazem Kadri & Avalanche welcome the Calgary Flames

Nazem Kadri’s return to the Colorado Avalanche was so seamless, it feels like it happened forever ago, but really, it’s only been 24 days since Calgary dealt Naz back to his old club in exchange for Victor Olofsson, Max Curran, a 2028 2nd, and 2027 first. Just a few weeks later, Kadri will face his former teammates and coaches of the Calgary Flames tonight at Ball Arena.

Colorado suffered defeat at the hands of Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets, but were winners of four straight ahead of that contest. The Flames are at the bottom end of a Pacific Division that’s been described as “a pillow fight.”

Can the Avalanche assert its will, or does Calgary rise to the occasion?

Colorado Avalanche: 48-14-10

The Opponent: Calgary Flames (31-34-8)

Time: 6:30 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, ESPN+

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM

Colorado Avalanche

I don’t think the Avalanche need to trigger a rebuild after losing to Winnipeg, but the style of play, and the eventual outcome can yield some lessons.

It does appear that, although the hockey landscape has changed over the years, the best approach to beating the Avalanche (albeit the most boring) is to establish an early lead and hunker down/muddy up the neutral zone to limit clean entries and effective possession.

Couple that with stout goaltending, and you just might hang on and beat this Avalanche squad.

The strategy described above isn’t new, but this version of the Avalanche is likely the deepest it’s been since the 2022 team that broke through and captured ultimate glory.

There are subtle differences between the two teams, with the 2022 juggernaut having that same competitive advantage on the back-end with decent net-minding, and the 2026 Avalanche harbouring great net-minding but less of an overarching advantage on the back-end.

Let’s see if Calgary attempts to implement the strategy we saw from Winnipeg, but some teams are much better at executing this approach than others.

The downside to this approach? You risk getting down early and might have to abandon it altogether if things get out of hand.

Projected Lineup:

Gabriel Landeskog — Nathan MacKinnon — Artturi Lehkonen
Valeri Nichushkin — Brock Nelson — Martin Necas
Ross Colton — Nazem Kadri — Logan O’Connor
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Joel Kiviranta

Brett Kulak — Cale Makar
Devon Toews — Sam Malinski
Josh Manson — Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood
MacKenzie Blackwood

Calgary Flames

The Flames did Naz a solid with likely plenty of suitors on the open market, and they landed him in Colorado. The mutual interest in having him move on stemmed from the lack of playoff potential in Calgary. Kadri is nearing the end of his career, and the Flames are in no position to fulfill Stanley Cup aspirations any time soon.

That doesn’t mean the Flames aren’t working toward something. They will have 5 picks in the top 3 rounds of this upcoming and next year’s NHL Draft. We know firsthand how that sort of capital can thrust a team into the limelight.

Projected Lineup:

Blake Coleman — Mikael Backlund — Joel Farabee
Matvei Gridin — Morgan Frost — Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich — Ryan Strome — Victor Olofsson
Brennan Othmann — Tyson Gross — Adam Klapka