Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Nazem Kadri Is At The Top Of His Game

11/24/2021 at 9:01am EST

from Mike Stephens of The Hockey News,

Nazem Kadri is killin' it.

If you live on the east coast and enjoy going to bed at a reasonable hour, that may be news to you. But after yet another multi-point performance last night, Kadri's early-season production has officially reached the point where it cannot be ignored.

The man is riding a nine-game point streak, for Pete's sake, with 23 points in 15 games. That's a 109-point pace over 82 games, which would absolutely obliterate his career-high of 61, and, perhaps more importantly, earn him a nice chunk of change on the open market.

Oh, yeah, Kadri is a free agent at year's end. That's right, he's doing this in a contract year at age 31, setting himself up nicely for what is likely the final opportunity to truly cash in on a long-term deal while in his prime.

Talk about timing.

Look, it's unlikely that Kadri woke up this season a 100-point player after spending the 12 in the 50-60 range. But that doesn't mean he's in for a significant regression, either.

Kadri isn't riding some unsustainable shooting bender. The former-Leaf is shooting 13.6% on the season, just a smidge above his 11.3% career average and lower than the 15.2% he shot in 2017-18, when he netted 32 goals.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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