Closing out the second-best statistical season of his career, Nazem Kadri‘s 2024 offseason isn’t exactly going to be a quiet one. Just days after the Flames’ last regular season game, the superstar forward announced that he’s going to be releasing a book about his career, set to be released on October 15, 2024.
Dreamer by Nazem Kadri
The book is titled Dreamer: My Life On the Edge. It’s a memoir of Kadri’s career and contains over 200 pages—224 to be exact—detailing Kadri’s NHL career. Published by Penguin Random House, the book is co-authored with Dan Robson, who’s worked with Andre DeGrasse, Kaleb Dahlgren, Doug Gilmour, Buck Martinez, and more.
Dreamer is available for pre-order and will be sold by Chapters-Indigo, Amazon, and carried locally by bookstores. It will also be available as an ebook and audiobook.
The book details Kadri’s NHL career as a Muslim player, which culminated in him being the first Muslim player to win the Stanley Cup when he won with the Colorado Avalanche in 2021–22. The Stanley Cup made its first-ever appearance inside a mosque in London, Ontario when it was Kadri’s turn with the hardware.
Kadri’s career has seen him suit up for three teams, from being the Toronto Maple Leafs’ seventh overall pick back in 2009 and playing 10 seasons with them, turning into an NHL superstar along the way; to three years with the Avalanche, where his final season was capped off with the Cup win; to now finally being committed to the Flames long-term and a vocal leader in the locker room and out in the community at large.
Hockey stories from Kadri
In the book, there will be details of all stages of his career with the three teams he’s played for, but it will also feature the bigger challenges that Kadri has faced as a person of colour in the NHL. The most notable incident occurred during the Avalanche’s Cup run when he was subject to anti-Muslim harassment from St. Louis fans.
After an on-ice play that saw Kadri and St. Louis Blues defender Calle Rosen crashing into Jordan Binnington, resulting in the end of Binnington’s playoff run, Kadri was subject to an onslaught of racist remarks and death threats on social media. Ashley Kadri, Nazem’s wife shared screenshots of direct messages the Kadris received after the play.
The Kadris decided to shine a light on the harassment they were subject to, which represents an ongoing reality of hardships that players of colour like Kadri can face in their day-to-day hockey careers that other players wouldn’t even be remotely aware of. The response and support from Colorado fans was resounding and the beauty of hockey was seen in an otherwise very unacceptable series of events.
Kadri’s Cup run also included a whole bunch of other positive and memorable moments, from the Too Many Men T-Shirt that raised over $250,000 for the Kadri Foundation to the legendary “Kiss my ass” soundbite from his on-ice championship interview.
Kadri’s Calgary Flames chapter
Now entering the 2024 offseason, Kadri has played out two seasons of his seven-year, $49.0M contract with the Calgary Flames. In his first year, he struggled to adapt to the Flames’ system. The Flames were slated to remain Cup contenders on paper after the ice-shattering roster shakeup, but the team didn’t get anything remotely close to savoury results. Kadri went from putting up a career-high 87 points with Colorado to just 56 points with Calgary.
Over the course of the 2023–24 season, the Flames went from trying to right the ship and get back into the playoffs to accepting the fact that they weren’t quite built for Cup contention. Kadri’s role and mindset seemingly shifted from being a player with all the pressure to put up a point per game to a veteran leader who can develop and guide young prospects. Lo and behold, he flourished in his new role.
From a disastrous October through to a final statline of 29 goals and 46 assists for 75 points in 82 games while he mentored primary linemates Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, Kadri’s 2023–24 season saw some individual triumphs for the player who was arguably not just the Flames’ best forward but their best player.
Turning 34 years old just days before his book releases, Kadri will be among the oldest Flames on the roster in 2024–25. Only Flames captain Mikael Backlund and goaltender Jacob Markstrom are older than Kadri (and the latter isn’t a certainty to remain a Flame come October 2024).
As Kadri releases his memoir, his Flames stories are sure to feature the transition in his game and how he plans to lead on the ice for the team, off the ice with the Hockey Diversity Alliance, and make lasting impacts well beyond his hockey career.
