The Toronto Maple Leafs will now be without one of their top offensive weapons for the remainder of the first-round.
You can forgive yourself for feeling a sense of deja vu here. As was the case precisely 12 months ago, Nazem Kadri will once again miss a portion of the Maple Leafs’ opening postseason series with the Boston Bruins after the NHL Department of Player Safety decided yesterday to suspend the 28-year-old for “the remainder of the first-round”.
The suspension, in an odd turn of events, does not actually include a set number of games.
The maximum amount of time Kadri is eligible to miss, given that his punishment was announced ahead of last night’s Game Three, stands at a total of five games, which would only happen if Boston manages to storm back from their 2-1 deficit and take Toronto the distance. In that event, Kadri’s would serve as the longest postseason suspension to be handed out since 2011, when Matt Cooke sat for six games after elbowing then-Rangers defenceman Ryan McDonough in the head.
The details of the Department of Player Safety’s decisions can be found below.
Toronto’s Nazem Kadri has been suspended for the remainder of the First Round for Cross-checking Boston’s Jake DeBrusk. https://t.co/doqkyMVrLS
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 15, 2019
Kadri’s punishment seems largely appropriate in this case, especially when considering his status as a repeat offender.
The talented centre has now been suspended a total of six times over the course of his 9-year career, all of which happened to result from hits to the head, and even found himself in this exact same situation at this exact same point in time last year. That’s unacceptable.
Context should always be taken into account when determining punishments, of course. And yet, regardless of what ultimately led up to the offence on Saturday night, which featured Kadri landing on the receiving end of a vicious knee-on-knee hit from Jake DeBrusk, Kadri indeed reacted in a retaliatory manner. The league, as evidenced by their decision, has clearly had enough of his recklessness and sought to send a message once and for all. Forcing Kadri to miss the remainder of what is arguably Toronto’s most pivotal playoff series of the Brendan Shannahan Era communicates loud and clear that this will no longer be tolerated.
In the aftermath of yesterday’s decision, Mike Babcock went on to reiterate that the Maple Leafs have every intention of ensuring that Kadri will play again this season. With two more wins, that goal will be reached.
The next step comes about on Wednesday for Game Four.
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