‘I Don’t Give Deals’ — New Flames Star Nazem Kadri’s Exit from Avs Group Chat

Nazem Kadri dropped the mic on the Colorado Avalanche group chat after joining the Calgary Flames as a free agent this summer.

According to Nathan MacKinnon, who shared the funny story with Elliotte Friedman while chatting on the 32 Thoughts Podcast in Vegas this week, Kadri left the team chat in style.

He was asked what offseason move might be the most interesting to the Avs’ goal of repeating and MacKinnon mentioned Kadri.

The Stanley Cup champions hoped they could keep Kadri for another run at the Cup but the 31-year-old wasn’t interested in giving the Avalanche a discount to keep the group together.

“The obvious one is Calgary — Naz going to Calgary. That’ll be a tough one,” MacKinnon said, laughing while recalling the way Kadri said goodbye to his former teammates. “He texted our group chat, he’s like, ‘I don’t give any deals on the ice.’

“That was like the end of the text, though. He was like, Love you guys, whatever, all that stuff. He’s like I don’t give any deals. And then he left the chat.”

Sounds like Kadri went into Calgary Flames mode quickly.

With one more year on arguably the most team-friendly deal currently in the NHL, MacKinnon’s future made retaining Kadri next to impossible.

MacKinnon is soon expected to become the league’s highest-paid player.

“You have to ask Pat (agent Pat Brisson. I don’t know, I’m hoping we’ll get it done pretty soon,” MacKinnon said. “Colorado’s the only place I want to be, that’s for sure. Love Joe (President Joe Sakic) and C-Mac (GM Chris MacFarland) — those guys are great. It’s just a little business. Sorry to not answer your question but I’m not going to answer your question.”

The 27-year-old did say that he expected it to get done. Soon.

“Yeah, totally. Myself, Pat, the team, we all have good intentions,” he said. “There’s no bad blood or anything. It’s been a longer process than I thought, I guess … but it’s OK. It should be done shortly, I’m hoping.”

It doesn’t look like Avs fans will feel the sting the Calgary Flames followers did when Johnny Gaudreau left in free agency and Matthew Tkachuk orchestrated a trade. With the moves the Flames made this summer to regroup, they could be battling the Avs in the Western Conference final in the spring.