One of the biggest remaining names in the NHL free agent market was taken off the board Thursday, when Stanley Cup winning center Nazem Kadri signed a deal with the Calgary Flames.
The deal was for a reported seven years, with a salary and cap hit not immediately available, but is rumored to be a $49 million deal with a $7 million annual cap hit.
In order to facilitate the deal, Calgary moved center Sean Monahan to the Montreal Canadiens, which frees up $6.375 million in cap space.
After winning a Stanley Cup with Colorado, Nazem Kadri is going back to Canada
Kadri won the Stanley Cup last season with the Colorado Avalanche, after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
Last season, the Canadian center scored a career high 87 points in 71 games played, including a career best 59 assists.
In the playoffs, Kadri put up seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in 16 games played.
That was his third and final season in Colorado, wrapping up a contract he signed back when he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs that carried a term of six years with an annual cap hit of $4.5m.
Kadri scored 357 points in 561 games with Toronto over the course of 10 seasons, while adding 155 points in 178 games as a member of the Avalanche.
Over the summer, Kadri expressed his desire to stay in Denver, but the Avalanche likely couldn’t afford what he was asking for.
Going to Montreal in order to clear cap space for the deal, Monahan spent his entire career with Calgary after being drafted 6th overall by the Flames in the 2013 draft.
Over nine years with the organization, Monahan played 656 games (9th most in team history), putting up 212 goals (8th best in team history) and 250 assists for 462 points.
Calgary has gone through a number of changes this summer, including the loss of star winger Johnny Gaudreau in free agency to the Columbus Blue Jackets and a trade that sent winger Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.
The team fell to the cross-province rival Edmonton Oilers in five games of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season.
Calgary moved alternate captain Sean Monahan to Montreal to facilitate the deal for Kadri