It’s trade season which means every rumor and pundit out there is laying out their best guesses on what might go down come deadline. It’s no surprise the Flames are sellers looking to continue their rebuild. Kadri is a trade chip but the return needs to make sense for the Flames. The reality, with a player that has 3 years left at 7 million, salary retention might be required. Do the Flames really want to retain salary for three years? Unlikely. Murray Edwards typically don’t do those types of deals.
But let’s say Kadri is traded. Then what? For starters, it will reveal the gaping whole down the middle that the Flames franchise has always suffered from. A team that never amounts to mid-placement because they’ve never had anything better than a 2nd line centre since Joe Nieuwendyk. Without Kadri the Flames will be working with three 3rd line centers on any other team. And there’s simply no ready skill in the minors that can fill the gap.
Now is the time to trade Kadri. If you let him play out his contract till 38 then he basically retires as a Flame. But sell high rather than waiting until the player essentially chooses their destination like Andersson, that should be the idea. Plus, Kadri’s production is about to tank. Here’s his latest body of work for the month of January: worst centre in the league!
So yea, the time to trade Kadri is now, but the team needs serious centre help without him, which is why he likely stays.
EDIT ADD Feb 6 2026
To be fair, let’s see the updated weekly graph on top C from around the league….
From reddit user https://www.reddit.com/user/smashbros13/