Brock Nelson is a do-the-right-thing kind of hockey player, so choosing to emulate him is a pretty solid decision.
For Colorado Avalanche forwards Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy, there’s a very specific aspect of Nelson’s career they would like to repeat. Doing so might be the key to Colorado’s offense not missing a beat without Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton and Jack Drury this season.
Two years ago, Nelson had the least productive season of his 30s. He was also traded to the Avs in the middle of it. Last year, Nelson responded with a fantastic bounce-back campaign, racking up 33 goals and earning his first Selke Trophy finalist nomination.
That first part sounds pretty familiar for Kadri and Roy.
“I would love to have a similar (bounce-back) season,” Roy said. “I feel ready. I feel good with this team. I feel good with this system. I’ve played with almost everybody on the team now. I just feel good.”
Roy was a remarkably consistent player for Vegas — four straight seasons with 13-15 goals and 39-41 points. Then he ended up in Toronto as part of the Mitch Marner trade.
That didn’t go well. He arrived in Denver ahead of the trade deadline and it was better, but the end result was eight goals and 25 points in 74 games. Roy had a strong playoff run, including a huge overtime goal in the opening round, but he could be primed to return to his previous production levels this year.
“Honestly, it was a long season,” Roy said. “I feel like when you’re in the routine of playing in the same team, you know everybody and then it goes by pretty quick when switch teams twice. Not knowing the guys as well, two different homes — it was a long year. Having a chance to win it all here, thatap what you want as a player. We didn’t make it all the way, but we had a good run.”
It was a similar, but different situation for Kadri. He began year No. 4 with Calgary, but the Flames were slowly committing to a full-scale rebuild.
Kadri had a huge season for the Flames two years ago — a team-leading 35 goals and 67 points as the clear No. 1 center. He had just 12 goals in 61 games for Calgary last year as the veteran pieces steadily left for new homes.
He did as well when he returned to Colorado. It was a fun homecoming story. He was solid — four goals, nine points in 16 games — but still not back to his previous levels. There was some advantage in his familiarity with Denver, but it was still a lot of new teammates, a new role and a big move in season.
“With the trade, everything just gets thrown in limbo,” Kadri said. “Even though you’re coming back to a familiar place, I hadn’t been here in a while. I think there was a bit of a feel-out process. Whatever the team needed, I was kind of put all over the place and hadn’t done that in a while. So now, when you’re playing all three positions in the same game, mentally I’m just more prepared for it. You know what is expected. I enjoy doing it.”
Kadri has built a reputation throughout his career. He plays hard. He’s an emotional spark plug. His desire to do whatever it takes to win may have gotten him in trouble earlier in his career, either through physical altercations or by being tough on himself mentally.
Navigating a new reality in Calgary, where his timeline to win didn’t really fit with the organization, couldn’t have been easy. That’s also why the Avs might see more of the more productive Kadri, even if he won’t get No. 1 center minutes here.
“I’m not a guy who is just going to dip his toe in when the puck drops in any situation,” Kadri said. “Itap tough to explain, but playing with great players is going to step your game up a little bit. You change your tendencies away from the puck. You understand that guys are going to get open, or guys are going to find you more.”
The Avs lost three regulars up front from a team that led the NHL with 298 goals. Nichushkin, Colton and Drury combined for 36 goals and 100 points last year. Both Nichushkin and Colton had off years, production-wise, though the former remained one of the sport’s best two-way wings.
The three guys added this offseason to ostensibly replace them — Jaden Schwartz, Zachary L’Heureux and Fedor Svechkov — combined for just 19 goals and 54 points with their previous clubs. Schwartz only played 50 games because of injury and the two young ex-Nashville Predators were either in the AHL for much of the year (L’Heureux) or mostly playing in a depth role on a team that lacked depth (Svechkov).
Whether those three (or rookie T.J. Hughes) can be more productive and make up a chunk of the 36 goals and 100 points the Avs are missing is one storyline. But just having Kadri and Roy for a full season, and their ability to improve from last year, could be an even bigger one.
Those two are ostensibly replacing a grab-bag of guys who were regulars for this team before last year’s trade deadline. Victor Olofsson, Zakhar Bardakov and Gavin Brindley all played between 56-60 games for the Avs. All but 14 of them came before the deadline.
Together, those three scored 18 goals and 48 points in 176 games, or nearly the equivalent of two forward spots in a full 84-game campaign. A full, healthy year of Kadri and Roy could blow past those totals.
“For sure,” Roy said when asked a full year of him and Kadri can help boost the offense. “Naz can play in all different situations as well. We lost three valuable players, but we brought in some nice players as well. Itap up to the guys in the room to find ways to replace those guys and maybe do better. We just have to be up to that challenge.”
It’s largely predicated on health, but the Avs could be deeper up front this season. It doesn’t look that way if we base it only on offseason transactions, though a healthy Schwartz can replace or even surpass what Nichushkin did on offense a year ago.
It looks more likely when you consider 80-ish games of Kadri and Roy, both feeling more settled and potentially more productive than a year ago. It’s only one game, but Kadri and Schwartz had two assists each, while Roy scored a goal in Colorado’s season-opening 8-4 win over the typically stingy Los Angeles Kings.
“I didn’t really look into that much,” Kadri said of last year’s production. “Usually, I’m pretty good at rebounding. I’ve been doing it my whole career, so … off to a good start.”
