At the NHL trade deadline, the Avalanche should welcome back an old friend who knows what it takes to hoist the Stanley Cup.

You’re thinking of Nazem Kadri?

Sorry. I’m not.

He certainly has friends in the Colorado locker room. And Kadri was undeniably born with a clutch gene that can make a difference in the playoffs.

But at age 35, with three more years on contract paying him $7 million a year, Kadri is too old to make sense for the Avalanche for anything beyond this season’s Cup-or-bust playoff run.

If the Avs are looking to obtain a center prior to the trade clock expiring on Friday afternoon, the more practical move would be to pry Ryan O’Reilly away from the Nashville Predators.

O’Reilly turned 35 in February, so he’s only four months younger than Kadri.

But at $4.5 million, he’s not only considerably cheaper than Kadri, there’s only one more year on O’Reilly’s deal.

In honor of his championship run with St. Louis in 2019, there’s a Conn Smythe Trophy on O’Reilly’s resume.

And he still has gas in the tank, as O’Reilly is skating 20 minutes per game for Nashville and leads the team in scoring.

From having watched “Radar” up close for more than 400 games he wore an Avalanche sweater early in his career, I can attest he’s good people and a rock-solid teammate, the type of guy Colorado could count on when the going gets tough in the playoffs.

Why should center be the No. 1 target for the Avalanche, after general manager Chris MacFarland skillfully created salary cap space by making the difficult decision last week to trade well-liked defenseman Sam Girard for Brett Kulak?

It’s got nothing to do with any dissatisfaction with the one-two punch at center of Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson, unless you’re among those fretting about an Avs power play that has been so abysmal that it could cost them in a best-of-seven playoff series.

While MacKinnon is certainly in his MVP prime at age 30, is it really wise for coach Jared Bednar to keep calling his name to hop over the boards and play nearly 23 minutes per game, with the prospect of playing hockey from now until late June?

While Nelson wore a gold medal home from the Olympics, there’s also extensive gray in the 34-year-old center’s beard.

Captain Gabe Landeskog is 33. Defenseman Devon Toews is 32.

Catch my drift?

These Avs sit atop the league standings and might be prohibitive favorites to win the Cup, but they aren’t a young team any longer. The championship window certainly hasn’t closed, but Colorado has also fiddled around too long to be the NHL’s next dynasty.

There’s been an if-not-now-then-when vibe to this team all season long.

It might not be the last dance for this group of Avs.

But after winning the Cup in 2022, if Bednar can’t coax another championship from a burgundy-and-blue bandwagon beginning to show mileage on its tires, it might be time to do some major retooling to the roster.

After a 3-1 victory on Saturday against Chicago, Cale Makar and the Avalanche were still expressing anxiety about how everybody needs to be more focused on the details and intentional with the puck on the power play.

The fresh mindset of a newcomer might help.

And don’t discount the possibility that MacFarland could explore a trade for New York Rangers 32-year-old Vincent Trocheck, who could still be playing championship-level hockey when a deal that pays him a $5.625 million salary expires in 2029.

After causing a commotion by trading Mikko Rantanen a year ago, we can rest assured MacFarland won’t be hesitant to pull the trigger on another deal.

The Avalanche have been in Cup-or-bust mode for half a decade.

But the urgency has never been greater than now.