Kadri Opens Season on Wing as Avalanche Develop Younger Centers

Colorado Springs Pueblo, CO, October 14, 2026 —

Nazem Kadri has opened the season playing exclusively on the wing for the Colorado Avalanche, marking a departure from a career spent primarily at center. The change is intended to create room for younger centers, including Fedor Svechkov, while strengthening the team’s top-six forward group.

The shift changes Kadri’s position, but the stated aim extends beyond his individual role. By using him on the wing, the Avalanche can support the development of younger players at center while keeping Kadri in the forward group. The team’s rationale, as described, links those two goals: giving younger centers room to develop and bolstering the top six.

Kadri and head coach Jared Bednar have both expressed confidence that the arrangement can work as a long-term strategy for the team. Their confidence indicates that the move is being considered as more than a short-term adjustment, although no specific timeline or conditions for continuing the alignment were provided.

The available information does not detail how Kadri’s responsibilities have changed on the wing, how Svechkov will be used, or what other players make up the top-six group. It also does not specify whether Kadri’s position could change later in the season. For now, the defining feature of the move is that he has played exclusively on the wing to begin the season, despite his history as primarily a center.

The approach places Kadri’s positional flexibility alongside the Avalanche’s stated interest in developing younger centers. Whether it becomes a lasting part of the team’s plans remains unspecified, but both Kadri and Bednar have voiced confidence in its potential as a long-term strategy.

Story summarized from the original created by Evan Rawal on gazette.com, see more information here.

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