Hockey Canada recently revealed the 42 players who were invited to this month’s orientation camp in Calgary, which takes place from August 26th through the 28th.
Plenty of the usual suspects were among those to receive an invitation, though one notable omission was Flames star center Nazem Kadri. The 34-year-old took to Instagram when the news first broke, commenting “???” in a display of his surprise at not getting the call.
On Friday, Julian McKenzie of The Athletic spoke to Kadri about the situation for the first time since the announcement.
“I feel like I deserve a chance. I think over the last few seasons I’ve certainly proven that with my statistics and my winning pedigree. I think it speaks for itself,” Kadri said.
“Honestly, man, it would be an absolute dream come true to somehow crack that team. I’ve been a long shot before. I’m looking forward to giving myself an opportunity. But I understand I’m going to have to play well,” Kadri added.
As Kadri mentions, he’s been extremely productive the last two seasons, piling up 67 points (35 goals, 32 assists) and 75 points (29 goals, 46 assists) in 2024-25 and 2023-24, respectively. Only 16 other Canadian NHLers have accumulated more points in that span, so the London, Ontario, native certainly has an argument for himself.
Connor Bedard, Quinton Byfield, Macklin Celebrini, Bo Horvat, Zach Hyman, Wyatt Johnston, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mark Scheifele, Nick Suzuki, John Tavares, Robert Thomas, Carter Verhaeghe, and Tom Wilson were the 13 forwards not on Canada’s 4 Nations roster who received an invite to the camp over Kadri.
Not attending the orientation camp won’t preclude Kadri from making the team, and it feels like a slight that will only motivate him to come flying out of the gates to start the 2025-26 season.
