5 Things - Flames vs. Blue Jackets

1. 1K For Kadri

It's bound to be a special night.

A night for Naz.

The Flames centreman will skate in his 1,000th NHL contest, a milestone only achieved by players wearing a Flames uniform a dozen times before this evening.

Kadri will have about 40 friends and family on hand - in addition to the C of Red - to mark the occasion at the Scotiabank Saddledome when his Calgary squad hosts Columbus. GET TICKETS

"Exciting, for sure; got lots of friends and family coming into town and just to be able to share with everybody means a lot to me," Kadri said during a media session Tuesday. "I’ve been able to reflect over the last couple days, and it kind of still hasn't quite sunk in yet.

"I'm sure with the ceremony and everything (Wednesday), at some point it will."

It's a testament to his talent, his perseverance, and his dedication to the game, too. Selected seventh-overall by Toronto in the 2009 Draft, Kadri has played a gritty style of hockey his entire career, a 14-year span that included a Stanley Cup summit with the Avalanche in 2022.

"That's just who I am, I don't know any different," he said of his playing style. "I don't really have a switch where I can turn it on and off, but, you know, once you start keeping score and then, you know, it's on for me, and that's always something that's driven me and helped me throughout my career.

"Even those days where I felt a little sluggish and didn't necessarily feel the best, as soon as that puck drops, it's a whole different story."

As a Flame, Kadri has been dependable, and he's been relied upon, too.

Kadri hasn't missed a game since signing in Calgary in the summer of 2022, and he's led the team in scoring in each of the past two seasons, a run that's included a career-best 35-goal campaign last winter.

"When you have a situation or a chance in a key game to bring your best, you find a way to do it, no matter what the situation is. That’s what Naz does so well," Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska noted Tuesday. "He’s ultra-competitive, he’ll do whatever he has to do to score, (to) help the team win. Whether it’s a fight, it’s a hit, whatever the case may be to change momentum of a game.

"He’s a gamer, where he comes to play each and every night."

As he stands on the precipice of this milestone, a night where he'll be the centre of attention on the ice - and in the run of show - Kadri will certainly take pause, and reflect on the journey.

And in that moment, it's bound to come back to family.

"I mean, they've they put me on skates when I was was a little guy and took me to - my parents - took me to hockey games and had me around the rinks and gave me the opportunity to play the game that that I eventually fell in love with," he reflected. "So I mean, there's so many people I could throw in that - like I mentioned - coaches, organizations, teammates; teammates are huge.

"But my family is, you know, it's on top of it all."

2. Know Your Enemy

Columbus comes to town with six wins from their last eight games, with tonight's stop in Calgary marking Game Two of a five-game swing that began Sunday on Long Island.

The Islanders rallied with two late goals to nip the Blue Jackets 3-2 in their road trip opener; Miles Wood and Denton Mateychuk factored in with the Columbus goals.

It's a high-octane offence in the Ohio capital this season. The Blue Jackets rank 13th in the NHL in goals per game, and they sit third in the league in shots on goal per game, too, averaging 31.9 pucks on target per contest.

Kirill Marchenko leads a balanced attack with 12 points on the season; Columbus boasts eight players on its roster with six or more points through the first 12 games of their regular season.

As of Tuesday evening, only four NHL players had a better plus-minus rating than the +10 amassed by defenceman Zach Werenski, too.

Head coach Dean Evason has employed a tandem in goal, with Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins splitting the 12 starts so far (Merzlikins got the nod Sunday against the Islanders and made 36 saves).

Former Flame Sean Monahan hit a milestone for Columbus over the weekend, too. His goal Saturday against St. Louis marked the 600th point of his NHL career, with 462 of those points coming in a Calgary sweater.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

Tonight's game marks the first of two meetings between Calgary and Columbus, with the return fixture set for Jan. 13 in the Ohio capital.

The two teams split their two-game set in 2024-25 - the home team won both games - beginning with a 5-2 Blue Jackets win at Nationwide Arena in late November.

Rasmus Andersson had the decider in the most recent meeting - a 3-0 Flames win at the 'Dome last Dec. 3 - while Kevin Bahl and Yegor Sharangovich also found the back of the net.

Did You Know?

The Flames recalled defenceman Yan Kuznetsov from the AHL's Wranglers Tuesday morning, and he joined the team for Tuesday's practice at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Kuznetsov, a second-round pick by the Flames in the 2020 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut in January of 2024 and so far this season, he's scored a pair of goals in 10 appearances at the AHL level, helping the Wranglers start the season with a 6-2-2 record.

4. Kadri By The Numbers

As we prepare to celebrate Kadri inside the Scotiabank Saddledome, we present some notable numerics from his NHL career to date.

• 720 - Kadri's career point total. Kadri's first NHL point came in the form of an assist Nov. 16, 2010, in a Maple Leafs home contest against the Nashville Predators.
• 91 - Not just his jersey number, but Kadri also has 91 career goals as a Flame. In his three-plus seasons with Calgary, Kadri has collected 208 points.
• 4 - the number of times Kadri has skated in a full 82-game regular season, his first coming with the Leafs in 2016-17. But since signing in Calgary, Kadri has hit the 82-game mark in all three of his full seasons in a Flames uniform.
• 17,425 - the minutes of regular-season playing time Kadri has accrued over his career, clocking out to an average of 17:27 over his 999 career appearances.
• 2,815 - the number of pucks Kadri has put on target over his career. In each of his three seasons with the Flames, he's set a new career-high in shots on goal, hitting a new high-water mark of 279 in 2024-25.
• 34 - Kadri's career points versus the San Jose Sharks, his most against any NHL opponent. In all, he's recorded 25 or more points against 10 different NHL clubs.
• 44 - career playoff points amassed by Kadri. During Colorado's 2022 championship run, he finished tied for fifth in team scoring with seven goals and 15 points.
• 12 - the number of NHL players to have played their 1,000th NHL game in a Calgary Flames uniform before Kadri does so tonight. He becomes the second Flame in as many seasons to reach 1,000 NHL appearances, after Mikael Backlund achieved the milestone in 2024-25.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Nazem Kadri

He's the man of the hour, and he's our Player to Watch, too.

And recently, Kadri has helped carry the mail for the Flames from an offensive standpoint, too.

Kadri comes into tonight's contest with six points (3G, 3A) over his last half-dozen games, and he leads the club in assists (seven) and points (10) through the first month of the season.

Blue Jackets - Kirill Marchenko

Marchenko leads the Blue Jackets with five goals and 12 points to begin the season, and comes into tonight's game riding a five-game point streak.

Curiously, every point he's amassed during that span has been an assist, but Marchenko can shoot the puck, too; he's recorded two or more shots on goal in six of his last eight games.

Three of his five goals this season have come away from home, with all three coming in the form of a hat-trick Oct. 11 at Minnesota.