Kadri sparking Avalanche by scoring at best pace of NHL career

Nazem Kadri said he is taking a simple approach to hockey during what is becoming a career NHL season for the Colorado Avalanche forward.

"I'm never really focused on where I am in the standings in terms of scorers or how great I've been or any point streaks or anything like that," Kadri said. "You just try to stay in the moment and not get too far ahead of yourself. That's the key for me. In this league, a lot can change quickly. I've been fortunate to play a long time and I certainly understand how it goes. Just between that work ethic and the experience, I think it's just all coming together."
Kadri leads the Avalanche with 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) in 34 games. He's fifth in the NHL in points behind Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals (55 points), Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (54), Connor McDavid of the Oilers (53) and Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers (53).
The numbers and strong support from NHL fans resulted in Kadri being named to the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game. He was announced Tuesday as the Last Men In winner for the Central Division, receiving more than double the number of fan votes of the second-place finisher in the Central. The All-Star Game will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 5.
"It's a career year," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said last week. "It's a remarkable year, to this point. So you look at this numbers, you look [at] what he's doing for our team, helping us to get to where we are in the standings [first place in the Central], and I believe he deserves to be in [the All-Star Game]."
It will be the first All-Star Game for Kadri, who is in his 13th NHL season and third with the Avalanche.
"Definitely exciting for sure," Kadri said. "I've had overwhelming support, which is great. And through my family and friends and Avs Nation in general, I was able to get the job done. So I was definitely pretty excited [when I heard] and I look forward to it."
The 31-year-old is scoring points at by far the best pace of his NHL career heading into Colorado's game at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, NHL LIVE).
Kadri is averaging 1.50 points per game, which would eclipse his previous best of 0.92 in 2012-13, when he scored 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in 48 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is on pace to finish with 121 points if he plays in each of Avalanche's remaining 47 games. That would shatter his NHL career high of 61 (32 goals, 29 assists), set in 2016-17 with Toronto.

Kadri's NHL career average is 0.68 points per game. He has scored 476 points (206 goals, 270 assists) in 702 games for the Maple Leafs and Avalanche.
"I'm just trying to work hard and put myself in the best situation possible to have success," Kadri said. "So I worked hard in the summertime. There was a lot that goes into that. It's definitely validation, just [to] see the results and it paying off, and obviously I'm part of a great team with some great players and we've been able to have some chemistry, and that's kind of taken it to a different level."
Kadri said he did not have any specific goals for, or changes to, his routine this offseason, but that he was focused on peak conditioning.
"I always try to work on weaknesses, try to improve those in the summertime, whatever they may be, but nothing super specific," said Kadri, who scored 32 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 56 games last season. "I just wanted to come in in great shape and give myself the best chance to have a great season."
Kadri, who has scored a point in 27 of 34 games this season, said he is aware he's drawing more attention from opponents.
"I think it's hard to not take notice," he said. "Everyone does their prescouts, and you see what's working for the teams you're playing against and you try to shut that down. I just embrace that. I want to be a guy that can be counted on for this team, and I think I've certainly proven I can do that."
Kadri said the jump in production has helped him focus. He said there was a point earlier in the season, maybe during his 10-game point streak (21 points; six goals, 15 assists) from Oct. 28-Nov. 24, when he stopped thinking he was merely hot and started thinking that this is how he can play consistently.
But Kadri said the most important storyline of his season has been the Avalanche (26-8-3) surging to the top of the Central. Since its 4-5-1 start, Colorado has the best points percentage in the NHL at .852 (22-3-2 since Nov. 7).
And, boosted in part by Kadri, Colorado leads the NHL with 4.25 goals per game despite having been without key players at various points because of injuries.
Center Nathan MacKinnon has missed 10 games because of injuries, forward Gabriel Landeskog has missed six because of injury and two because of a suspension, and forward J.T. Compher has missed 12 games.
"I think we're just trying to build for the stretch and hopefully a long playoff run," Kadri said. "Hopefully momentum is going to be a huge factor, a huge key, and we want to ride that wave as long as we can and be playing our best hockey when it matters most, which is in April and May.
"I'm not even sure if we've [played] a full game with our full lineup. We've had to face some adversity early on and I think that was maybe the cause of a slow start. But now we're getting some healthy bodies and everyone seems to be finding their groove. So it's fun to watch."