Flames sign Nazem Kadri and trade Sean Monahan to Montreal

The Calgary Flames remain active on Thursday in the offseason, as they made two very notable, eye-popping moves. First, they signed center Nazem Kadri of London, Ontario to a seven-year contract worth $49 million. Then they traded center Sean Monahan of Brampton, Ontario to the Montreal Canadiens with a first round draft pick.

Nazem Kadri

The Flames become Nazem Kadri’s third National Hockey League team following a decade with the Toronto Maple Leafs and three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche. In 2021-22, Kadri had a breakout season in the Mile High city of Denver. In 71 games, he had 28 goals and 59 assists for 87 points. He was a +13 with 71 penalty minutes, 29 power-play points, six game-winning goals, 247 shots on goal, 585 faceoff wins, 19 blocked shots, 52 hits, 36 takeaways, and 34 giveaways. Kadri had career-highs in assists, points, and power play points.

Also in 2021-22, Kadri was on an Avalanche team that won the 2022 Stanley Cup. In 16 games, he had seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, and was a +7 with eight penalty minutes, two power-play goals, two game-winning goals, 58 shots on goal, 94 faceoff wins, five blocked shots, 20 hits, seven takeaways and five giveaways.

For his career, Kadri has 219 goals and 293 assists for 512 points in 739 career regular season games. He is a -14 with 589 penalty minutes, 148 power-play points, one shorthanded point, 31 game-winning goals, 1951 shots on goal, 4860 faceoff wins, 251 blocked shots, 963 hits, 402 takeaways, and 450 giveaways. Kadri’s lone career shorthanded point was a shorthanded goal. It came while with Toronto in a 5-3 Maple Leafs loss to the New Jersey Devils on December 4, 2014 from center Mike Santorelli of Vancouver, British Columbia and defenseman Stephane Robidas of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Replaces Matt Tkachuk

In terms of being an agitator, the Flames lost one player who gets under the opponents’s skin, and added another. There is no doubt that Kadri has a history of being the player that opponents simply cannot stand. The Flames player who filled that role last season was Matthew Tkachuk, who was subsequently traded to the Florida Panthers in the offseason.

Defensive Progress

This past season, he showed significant improvement in the takeaway/giveaway ratio. Kadri was a +2. It was the first time he had a plus in the takeaway/giveaway ratio since he was a +6 (47 takeaways and 41 giveaways) with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015-16 season.

Sean Monahan

The Flames veteran center has been a player on the decline in recent years. In 2021-22, he had only eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 65 games after having 82 points in 2018-19. Monahan was a -15 with 24 penalty minutes, 13 power-play points, two game-winning goals, 111 shots on goal, 414 faceoff wins, 24 blocked shots, 59 hits, 32 takeaways and 28 giveaways.

There is no doubt as the season progressed, Monahan was becoming more and more out of favour of Flames’s head coach Darryl Sutter and into his doghouse. There is no doubt the Flames did not think much of Monahan, when they shipped him off to Montreal in a salary-dump move with a first round draft pick in 2025 for future considerations. Monahan did not play the whole season because of hip surgery.

For his career, he has 212 goals and 250 assists for 462 points. Monahan was a -46 with 153 penalty minutes, 143 power-play points, three shorthanded points, 47 game-winning goals, 1515 shots on goal, 5474 faceoff wins, 232 blocked shots, 397 hits, 444 takeaways and 364 giveaways.