The Colorado Avalanche organization is aware of the threats made to Nazem Kadri after Saturday night’s game in St. Louis, the team said in a statement Sunday. They are working with local law enforcement to investigate.
In the first half of the Avalanche’s 5-2 win on Saturday, Kadri collided with Blues defender Calle Rosen when a puck landed in front of St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington. Kadri and Rosen fell at Binnington and the three went sprawled into the net. Binnington sustained an injury in the game that will rule him out for the remainder of the series. Officials on the ice did not issue a penalty for the game, and the league imposed no additional discipline on Sunday.
The Avalanche offered no comment beyond their statement, but there was a spate of online comments following the play, including threatening tweets, some anti-Islamic. Kadri is of Muslim and Lebanese descent, and he is a founding member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance.
Akim Aliu, former NHL player and chairman of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, tweeted that he had spoken to Kadri.
“Naz has faced so many racist attacks and threats since last night that the police had to be called in,” Aliu wrote on Twitter. “Racial abuse like this has no place in hockey and should be investigated and reported.”
Kadri also received racist messages following a postseason suspension last season, which his wife Ashley shared on an Instagram page created for their cat.
“(T)his happens to him regularly,” she wrote at the time.
The Avalanche are 2-1 straight ahead of the Blues and the two teams will play Game 4 on Monday. Kadri is fifth in the Avalanche this postseason with six points and was the team’s third-top scorer in the regular season with a career-best 87 points.
(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)