Nazem Kadri won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 and wasn’t re-signed, starting the team’s search for a No. 2 center.
They finally found one at the 2025 NHL trade deadline with Brock Nelson. But now they also have found a Kadri-style player.
Nazem Kadri.
The Avalanche and Calgary Flames worked out a deal to bring back Kadri, giving up only Victor Olofsson off their roster, plus draft picks and an unsigned draft pick. Colorado now has enviable center depth and can trot out Nathan MacKinnon, Nelson, Kadri and fellow 2026 trade deadline acquisition Nicolas Roy.
Here are the winners and losers of the 2026 NHL trade deadline:
WINNERS
Nick Foligno joins brother
Sabres go all-in
The Sabres have been on a roll since Jarmo Kekalainen replaced fired Kevyn Adams as general manager. And the GM took steps to try to help the team end a record 14-season playoff drought. An attempted trade for Colton Parayko didn’t materialize when the defenseman declined to waive his no-trade clause. Kekalainen responded with a trade for the Jets’ Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn, giving Buffalo a rugged third defensive pairing behind an impressive top four that includes Rasmus Dahlin. Sam Carrick was added to improve the team’s league-worst faceoff winning percentage, and depth forward Tanner Pearson also joined. Schenn and Pearson have won Stanley Cup titles, important if the Sabres make a rare foray into the postseason.
Panthers hang on to free agents
The Panthers’ run of back-to-back championships (and three trips to the Final) is heading toward an end because of a string of injuries that include captain Aleksander Barkov tearing his ACL on the first day of fall practice. GM Bill Zito traded pending free agent Petry but held on to free agents Sergei Bobrovsky and A.J. Greer and will try to re-sign them. The Panthers’ core, when healthy, is still championship caliber. If they can’t overcome their deficit, they can heal up and try again next season.
LOSERS
Capitals players devastated
They took it hard when Nic Dowd was dealt to the Golden Knights after being in Washington since 2018-19. Then they woke up Friday morning to find out that 17-year veteran John Carlson was heading to Anaheim after a late-night trade.
‘Today sucks, it’s brutal,’ forward Tom Wilson told reporters. ‘I’m sure there are some guys that want to cry. That’s the reality of it. Today you can cry and tomorrow you got to wake up and be a big boy and go out and play hockey.’
Awkward position for Colton Parayko
Parayko had every right to veto a trade to Buffalo. That’s why agents negotiate no-trade clauses with teams. But the fact that news of the trade leaked made things awkward for the defenseman as he took the time to make a decision on his future.
‘We did some due diligence as soon as that happened,’ general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters, according to the Post-Dispatch. ‘We checked the phone records of all of our staff, texts and emails, and everybody passed the test, not surprisingly. I was disappointed it got out. I know it didn’t come from us.’
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs gave up a first-round pick and a prospect last season to land Scott Laughton and two mid-round picks from the Flyers. Leafs general manager Brad Treliving traded the pending free agent to the Kings on Friday and received a conditional third-round pick. It can become a second-rounder if Los Angeles makes the playoffs.
New CBA rules
The new collective bargaining agreement included a playoff salary cap and rules making it harder for teams to use a second team to retain some salary in a trade. The result: Deadline day was fairly dull until the Kadri trade surfaced.
