Buffalo Sabres Free Agency Targets: Nazem Kadri

Another free agent available is Nazem Kadri. After a breakout season with Colorado, Nazem is expected to hit the market. Should the Buffalo Sabres sign him?

NHL free agency officially begins this week which means speculation about players will ramp up in the next couple of days. For players like Nazem Kadri, he is a player who is expected to gain lots of interest from other teams. Are the Buffalo Sabres one of them?

After a good season which saw him winning the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, you know teams would love to have Kadri. Like we have talked about time and time again in our free agency articles, Buffalo has the cap space to sign Kadri. Another question is: Would he want to come to Buffalo? If you’re a Sabres fan, Kadri isn’t a stranger.

Are the Buffalo Sabres a landing spot for Nazem Kadri?

After completing his 13th NHL season, he spent 10 of those with the Toronto Maple Leafs. When the Sabres had Rasmus Ristolainen, him and Kadri would always have their own battles.

Okay, back to talking about if Buffalo should sign Nazem. If they were to sign him, he would make a good second liner. According to Hockey-Reference, Kadri scored 28 goals and registered 59 assists in 71 games played with Colorado last year.

In the postseason, he was impressive. In 16 playoff games during the 2021-2022 postseason, he scored 7 goals and 8 assists. Looking back at his stats in previous seasons, Kadri has always been a solid player.

In Toronto, he did have a reputation of being a solid player but with a bad reputation. While he would be productive, he would also get suspended because of his actions. After leaving Toronto, it seems like he redeemed himself with the Avalanche, especially after this previous season.

As mentioned earlier, he would be a solid addition to Buffalo’s top six. I don’t see him playing on the first line but definitely on the second line. However, since Kevyn Adams has indicated he wants to extend those in-house, Kadri might be out of Buffalo’s price range but we will see what he gets wherever he goes.

If the Sabres were to sign him, I think he would help out them out a lot but if you ask me, I don’t think he’ll sign with Buffalo.

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)