Colorado Avalanche: 104.3 The Fan Suggests Benching Nazem Kadri

The Fan suggested the Colorado Avalanche should bench Nazem Kadri against the Boston Bruins because of his history with the team.

The Colorado Avalanche bizarrely have a five-day hiatus between games after playing just two on the season. Sports radio, 104.3 The Fan, were also bizarre today — they suggested benching Nazem Kadri for the upcoming game against the Boston Bruins.

Their rationale is that the center has a contentious history with the Bs. Last postseason, he incurred a five-game suspension for “delivering a dangerous crosscheck to the head,” in this case to Boston forward Jake DeBrusk.

The previous year, he received a three-game suspension for for boarding then-Bruin Tommy Wingels in the first game of their playoff series.

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So, because of this history between Kadri and the once-rival Boston Bruins, Johnny Hart of The Fan recommended using Nazem’s ankle soreness as an excuse to sit the center. (The soreness stems from blocking a shot in the Minnesota Wild game.)

Now, when Colorado first traded for Kadri, GM Joe Sakic was asked about how the team would control his impetuous ways against the Bruins. Our GM’s solution was simple — don’t play Boston in the playoffs. And they won’t unless it’s in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Of course, the two teams will meet twice in the regular season, with the first game being this Thursday. Jared Bednar spoke to The Fan and said he doesn’t expect any incidents between Kadri and the Boston players despite the fact the center is “highly competitive.” He added:

“He toes the line. His temper can run hot a little bit…. But he’s a real good pro.”

Bednar finished telling The Fan that he didn’t want to “coach the passion out of a player” and that you more expected teammates to calm each other down when needed.

Now, a caveat about The Fan. Back in the Golden Why Not Us Era, they did good coverage of the Colorado Avalanche. However, in the spring of 2016, KSE bought a radio station and christened it Altitude, to go along with the existing TV station. Altitude Radio took over Colorado Avalanche coverage, and The Fan became mostly all Broncos, all the time.

Recently, The Fan has tried to get back into Avs coverage. After a hiccup in last year’s playoffs, the station started inviting Avs insider Adrian Dater to give commentary. However, the above suggestion wasn’t Dater’s.

As for Kadri himself, he took a maintenance day yesterday, and the team didn’t hold on-ice practice today. So, as far as I know, no one has asked him how he feels about the impending Bruins game.

However, in his first official presser with the team, on media day, he said the following about the Avalanche:

“As of this point, this is my family now. These are the guys I’m going to do anything for. This is the team I’m going to do anything for.”

And the Bruins aren’t Avalanche rivals. I do think eventually Kadri will learn to hate the Wild with the heat of a thousand burning suns.

Two side notes about Toronto. One, I wrote in a previous post that it would probably be weird for Nazem Kadri here in Colorado because our media is less pressurized and more playful. Sure enough, he had commented on media day:

“It’s much more laid back, less hectic [in Colorado]. It can be a bit crazy down there [in Toronto] sometimes, and it’s all I’ve ever known. That’s really my only perspective of the league, so coming here it’s just a lot more laid back and relaxed. You can just go about your business.”

I wonder if this is what Kadri meant about crazy:

Wut? It’s just Tyson Barrie executing a puck dump into the corner.

But he did it in Toronto blue, and that’s a city where, as an NHLer, you can’t just go about your business of accepting a pass and converting it to a corner dump.

Anyway, the Colorado Avalanche host the Boston Bruins on Thursday evening in their third of a four-game homestand. I fully expect to see Kadri on the ice with his Avs teammates, where he should be.