Nazem Kadri Honored by NHL as First Star of Week

One of the things I most remember about the second round of the Avs’ unfortunate playoff series last spring against Vegas was nothing that happened during the actual games. It was watching Nazem Kadri, skating every day at practice, trying to seem upbeat and one of the boys, but thinking that it must be killing him to try and maintain a positive demeanor.

He was still in NHL suspension purgatory, unable to play in the games because of his eight-game suspension. He was holding out hope that the suspension would be reduced, but it didn’t happen. The NHL said no, and he missed the entire series.

Fast forward to today: Kadri was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week, after another gonzo week of eight points in four games, which lifted him to THIRD in the NHL scoring race.

Kadri now has 59 points in 40 games, just two points short of his career high of 61 set in 2016-17 with Toronto in….wait for it…82 games. Terry Frei has a good column here on Kadri in which No. 91 talks about his season.

Kadri’s season only proves once again: it’s not if you fall down, it’s how you get back up that counts the most.