The Colorado Avalanche are fresh off defeating the Utah Mammoth in their first game back from the Olympic break on Wednesday night, improving to an NHL-best 38-9-9 on the 2025-26 campaign.
The Avs are right at the top of the Stanley Cup contender list, and have already made one trade this week, shipping out longtime defenseman Samuel Girard in favor of a bigger body in veteran Brett Kulak.
As The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta reported on Thursday, general manager Chris MacFarland “may look to bolster his roster even further over the next [eight] days leading up to the trade deadline,” and he could have two specific names in mind.
“The Avs have been connected to a potential reunion with Nazem Kadri of the Calgary Flames, as well as having interest in New York Rangers centre Vincent Trocheck,” the hockey insider wrote.
“Kadri ($7M AAV) and Trocheck ($5.625M AAV) each have three years left on their respective contracts after this season.”
After moving out Girard's $5 million cap hit — and taking on Kulak's much more reasonable $2.75 million contract — Colorado has just over $8.7 million in salary cap space to work with between now and March 6.
That means the team could absorb either of Kadri or Trocheck's contracts, and both centers project as excellent additions to an Avalanche club trying to bring a second Stanley Cup championship in five years to Denver.
Does a Nazem Kadri reunion make sense for Avalanche?
Kadri was a critical piece of the Avalanche roster that won it all in 2022. He was a terrific 2C throughout the run, managing 15 points in 16 postseason contests. He signed a seven-year deal with the Flames that summer and hasn't played a playoff game since.
The London, Ontario native is having a solid if unspectacular year on a lowly Calgary team, scoring just 10 goals but adding 29 assists over 56 games. He is reportedly open to a change of scenery, and a reunion with a team as potent as the Avalanche could make sense.
As for Trocheck, he is fresh off winning gold with Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. He's been linked to the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings, although a player of his caliber at both ends of the rink would undoubtedly be a good fit in Colorado as well.
Trocheck has managed 36 points in 43 games in 2025-26, and projects as one of the best third-line centers in the league if he were to join Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson in Denver. The same goes for Kadri.
“MacFarland may focus on adding depth up front in the coming days, having already addressed the blueline, and may try to upgrade his team at the centre position and deepen his team even more up the middle,” Pagnotta concluded.
Even if the Avs don't make any more moves, they are the favorite to come out of the Western Conference this spring. But bringing one of Kadri or Trocheck to the Mile High City could be the difference in getting them back to the Stanley Cup Final this June.
