Maple Leafs Kadri Not Part of Future Core
By John
On Monday I wrote an article where I listed Kadri as part of the guys that I did not think was going to be part of the core going forward. I should have expected Kadri fans to be wondering why on earth I put him on that list. If you read it, you will have seen I thought the identity going forward would entail three things; skill, character, and work ethic.
We can argue until we are blue (and white, haha get it?) in the face about whether or not he is a first line center or a 3rd line center.
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Or whether he is unlucky to have an awful shooting percentage of 5.7% or just continues to shoot from spots where the goaltenders can make an easy save. We cannot however argue that Kadri has skill. What may be lacking is the other two.
We all remember Dallas Eakins benching Kadri because he wasn’t happy about his conditioning. Sure, we have not heard complaints about that in a long time. Maybe he has improved in the weight room and with his conditioning. Either way, my biggest concern about Kadri is his character.
Before any Kadri fans get upset, this is not an article on how Kadri is a bad guy. It is just to show that he is not a Lou Lamoriello character type of guy.
Going back not that long ago to March of 2015, when the Leafs scratched/suspended Kadri for a total of three games for being late to a team practice. Kadri’s defense was that he had slept in. But we all know there was more to it than that, even Shanahan admitted so.
"“There’s more to this obviously. If this was the case of Nazem being 15 minutes late for a meeting one time, yes, then you could probably sweep this under the rug and handle this internally”"
The Leafs organization was fed up with Kadri going back at least a year already. Shanahan also added, “we expect a certain level of professionalism. It’s time for him to start making better decisions. There’s a history here”. Now I ask you, does this sound like a type of guy Lou Lamoriello wants to hold onto? Does this sound like a guy that Lou wants to deal with? Does this sound like the type of guy you want teaching your younger guys? This is a perfect example what you do not want in your locker room when you are changing your culture. Keep in mind, this was less than a year ago. This was not back in the Marlies days for Nazem.
“we expect a certain level of professionalism. It’s time for him to start making better decisions. There’s a history here”
At around this time of the season last year, he had Shanahan so bothered that they had to sit him for three games and the President of the Maple Leafs made the statement to the press making it an external topic of discussion. If you think he grew up in the mean time, fast forward to Feb. 9 of this season.
During the Tuesday night game against Calgary, Kadri was caught giving a throat slashing gesture to defenseman Mark Giordano. If this wasn’t enough, he followed it up with profanity and a death threat. He was consequently fined $5,000 by the NHL for his actions. If you think that was a one time thing of Kadri’s part and he won’t do it again look no further than 2010 at the World Juniors when he made another throat slashing gesture when playing against Switzerland. I ask once again, is this a Lou Lamoriello type of guy? Absolutely not.
Maybe you are still thinking well, Lou has said nothing but great things about Kadri so he must be keeping him. Wrong. Dion Phaneuf is the perfect example of what Lou is doing with Kadri. The classic pump and dump. Lou said of Dion, “He is an outstanding leader”. And he added that of all the guys on the team, he is most impressed with Dion Phaneuf…TRADED.
As for Lou’s comments on Kadri, he has been careful saying, “I love the way he competes”, and “He’s [Kadri] one I wouldn’t mind going into a foxhole with”. And when asked by Elliotte Friedman if he can see Kadri as being a guy that the Leafs can commit to long term his answer was telling, he said “Let me put it to you this way. I am a fan of the way he plays. And there is no question you want a Nazem Kadri in your lineup”. In my opinion, he was merely referring to the type of player Kadri is. Someone that is a competitor and plays with skill and confidence. He never says he wants Nazem Kadri, but a Nazem Kadri type of guy. Lou talks Kadri up, but will not commit to Kadri publicly. We have now seen him commit to Leo Komarov publicly, but not Kadri. Now that is telling. In my opinion this inevitably leads to one thing…TRADED.
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Let me know what you think in the comments section!