Moose seems like he knows something no one else does.
The Colorado Avalanche has been in full party mode since winning the Stanley Cup a week ago. From the parade on Thursday to partying at various nightclubs every night with the Cup since then, we’ve seen a different side of Avs players as of late.
It’s crazy what can happen to a team after winning the greatest trophy in sports. This has included pretty much every player exploring the “Instagram Live” feature on their accounts. We’ve seen plenty of stories pop up from those, all of them funny and comical to react to.
Mikko Rantanen hosted an Instagram Live of his own on Friday night while out celebrating with his teammates and Nazem Kadri by his side. He interacted with a fan who’d commented on the live with the following response.
mikko is naz’s agent pic.twitter.com/oqrbHrQK6c
— scc m (@ivyjost) July 2, 2022
“Is Naz coming back? That’s what we hear, I’m gonna call Joe soon and invite him here, and then we’ll make it happen.” Kadri is back to Colorado confirmed – I think all of Avs faithful wish.
Of course, an intoxicated Rantanen made this comment (and found his ability to speak English again!) about Kadri’s status. While what he said shouldn’t be taken seriously, there is an underlying message here: his teammates want him back.
Rantanen is one of just a handful of guys on the team who would like to play with Kadri for the foreseeable future. Kadri loves the city and state of Colorado and has the backing of thousands of fans behind him as well after all he’s been through as of late, all the way up to being a Stanley Cup champion.
Naz knows his worth, and he has made that abundantly clear in the last few days when talking about his UFA status. There are estimates that Kadri would be looking for a 7×9 contract to close out his career. Even at 31 years old after having a career year, this is certainly ambitious.
The Avs could re-sign him if they paid him well. It would, however, cloud the future of the club a little bit if he is signed for that much money for that long – even with the cap increasing by $1M next year. Kadri knows what he is doing and has leverage on his side after a career year that saw him raise Lord Stanley at the end of it.
Perhaps Joe Sakic could talk him into taking a cut under his rumored 7×9 contract to stay in Colorado and get another chance of going back-to-back with the Cup. It would be challenging and put the Avs in a tough spot in the long run, especially with having to deal with the lack of draft picks this year and paying Nathan MacKinnon next year.
We’ll see how it all plays out. For now, we’ll enjoy moments like these and see if Rantanen can persuade his teammate to stay here. Maybe he will actually get Joe Sakic on the phone and bring them together to talk it out. But party on you two, party on.