The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves rich in a way that would have never seemed possible.
For about the better part of a decade, since Mats Sundin took his talents to Vancouver, the Toronto Maple Leafs lacked a legitimate number-one centre.
Predictably, a team without a top centre for a decade failed to compete during that time. Then, luckily, they won the draft lottery (after getting screwed the year before and missing out on McDavid) and drafted Auston Matthews, a player who figures to be the best player in franchise history, eventually.
Then Nazem Kadri came into his own. Back to back thirty goal seasons, a role as a shut-down centre, and great peripheral numbers track him as a top line centre as well. (Although people routinely talk about a “#1” centre when they mean an elite superstar, so I should be clear: While he’s no super-star, Kadri is the #1 centre on approximately half the teams in the NHL).
With Matthews and Kadri, the Leafs were already deep at centre when they went out and signed John Tavares, who himself is likely a top ten player in the NHL.
So the Leafs now have the best three centres combination in the NHL, and now it’s clear that Wiliam Nylander should also be playing at centre.
William Nylander
With Kadri out with a concussion, the Leafs put Nylander at centre. He was fantastic. Skating with the puck is Nylander’s best asset and the stats show him as one of the best players in the NHL for entering the offensive zone carrying the puck.
As a centre, he can really put this skill to use, as he did last night when his line controlled 70% of the play and his winger, Andreas Johnsson put ten shots on net.
Nylander can’t be a winger. If you have a player like that, and he can play centre, you play him at centre. I’ve been talking about having Nylander at centre on this site for three years, and after last night, it’s clear that that is where his future lies.
William Nylander is better than Nazem Kadri today, and the difference will only get more pronounced as time goes on, and as such, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to trade Nazem Kadri.
Now, Kadri has one of the best contracts in hockey as it takes him to what projects as roughly the end of his prime years, costs only $4.5 million, which is cheap for his production, and runs for two more years.
Yes it’s antithetical and counter-intuitive for a team facing some tough decisions because of the salary cap to trade away one of the best contracts in the league.
We must consider, however, that what makes Kadri so valuable to the Leafs will transfer to another team, and thus increase what you would receive for him in a trade.
Nylander takes over Kadri’s role at centre, the Leafs recall Trevor Moore to replace Nylander on the third line, and then they trade kadri for a young player on an entry-level deal that could help the team right now.
The Leafs would get better and they would save cap money. Trading Kadri with three playoffs worth of contract left, while he’s 28 and at his absolute peak makes sense.
Alternatively, the Toronto Maple Leafs should trade Kadri to Carolina for Brett Pesce who makes less money than Kadri but is a right-handed defenseman signed for the next five years.
Pesce is a good defensive defenseman who can move the puck and would be an excellent replacement for Ron Hainsey. The Leafs should get make this happen, even though I love Nazem Kadri and it’d suck to see him go. He’s a homegrown player and one of my favorite Leafs of all-time. But you have to make tough moves to win, and I think this would help.