Dater’s Daily: Kadri Reactions In Calgary, Altitude-Comcast Fiasco Continues

A good Saturday to all. Temperatures cooling a bit finally here in Thornton. I’m back from a brief eastern sojourn. Let’s do some hockey notes, quotes, links, etc. etc., starting with some stuff from Calgary Hockey Now colleague Brian MacFarlane on the presser of Nazem Kadri yesterday, talking about being a new member of the Calgary Flames:

• Kadri admitted he would not have become a Flame if Calgary hadn’t lost Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk at the same time. They wouldn’t have had the cap room. “The patience definitely did me some good,” Kadri said Friday from a hotel in France. “Calgary was always a team that was interested since Day 1, which I definitely respected and acknowledged. Calgary was always someone that was interested in me not from just a few weeks ago, but even a few years ago and have kind of always been on my radar. I can’t wait to get to Calgary and show the fans what we have.” (More from Calgary Hockey Now)
• The Avalanche’s second game of the season: Oct. 13, in Calgary, a night after the season-opener at home against Chicago.
• I’m also pretty sure of this: Kadri kept waiting/hoping that the Avalanche might sweeten their offer, especially on term, and that also had something – maybe a lot – to do with how long it took to finally sign a new deal. But, as I’ve said for a while now, I don’t believe the Avalanche ever offered anything other than a really short-term deal.
• We’re two days since the signing, and no new acquisitions from the Avalanche. For those wondering about unsigned free agent Paul Stastny, I’ve reached out to both him and his agent, but have gotten ghosted so far.
• Memo to other agents/players: If you don’t want to say anything, just say “Can’t comment/no comment/nothing to say.” Especially if it’s just a text message. When you totally ghost a reporter like me, it not only pisses me off, it makes me dig harder to find out what you don’t want to talk about. What comes around, goes around in this business. Most players and agents give that common courtesy, at least.
• The late Don Baizley, the agent to players such as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya, among others, would always return your call. He never gave you anything, as a reporter, and I mean, nothing, scoop-wise. But he always returned your call on a legit question, and that’s why I and everybody else in the hockey media world respected him so much.
• The same with the late, great, Pierre Lacroix. He would just as soon cut off both his legs than give a scoop to a reporter on anything, but he at least would reply to you. For Pierre, it was always the same, stock answer when you’d ask him anything about a trade, contract, pretty much anything personnel-wise: “I haven’t heard.”
• If you haven’t seen his tweet yet, here is something from 104.3 The Fan’s Dan Jacobs, whose day job is as a lawyer, on the state of things between Altitude and Comcast:

Sadly, more bad news for Nuggets & Avs fans…. @adater @TFrei @1043TheFan pic.twitter.com/4ig7QAePER

— Dan Jacobs (@dantjacobslaw) August 19, 2022

• I mean, is this now not the biggest business feud out there? Listen, I have friends at Altitude, and so I don’t care to rip on them over this, plus I just don’t know all the nuts and bolts about things to talk like an expert on it. But, obviously, the whole thing is beyond ridiculous by now.
• Despite the loss of Kadri, the Colorado Avalanche remain the favorites to win the next Stanley Cup (Superbook Colorado)
• Carl Hagelin took the ice in an informal practice on Friday. There’s no official word, but that is a very good sign for Hagelin’s career. However, his return could put the Caps in a bind. It could force a Washington Capitals trade.
• The top three potential landing spots for P.K. Subban (Hockey News)
• I had a dream last night that I was flying around Ball Arena during an Avalanche game in a puddle-jumper plane with a Pittsburgh Pirates logo on it and also, as part of the same one or some new one, was an emergency stand-in for Gene Simmons in a Kiss show, despite never having played a musical instrument in my life. I had the bat makeup and everything.
• No, I didn’t do any cannabis yesterday either.
• I’m having coffee with longtime Avalanche anthem singer Jake Schroeder today. He’s moved on to work full-time with his non-profit now.
• I’ll tell him y’all said hi.
• Lou Lamoriello has just been getting roasted on Twitter by Islander fans for not having signed any free agents this summer, including Kadri.
• Robin Lehner’s season-ending hip surgery means it’s Logan Thompson’s time in Vegas (Vegas Hockey Now)
• Want 20% off a full-year subscription to Colorado Hockey Now, $29.99 to $24.99? Enter the promo code word 5off in the checkout box and the deal is yours (Checkout box)