The Toronto Maple Leafs Welcome a Villain Back to Town

The Toronto Maple Leafs will welcome the return of Stanley Cup Champion Nazem Kadri to the building tonight.

Obviously I wish Naz could have won the Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the fact that he didn’t is his fault.

He is the one who forced a trade by getting suspended not once, but twice for game seven’s against the Boston Bruins.

If he didn’t get suspended, the Leafs probably would have won at least one of those games. I mean, there’s no guarantee, but taking an elite centreman out of the lineup for the season’s most important game couldn’t have helped, and same thing for the year after that.

In fact, it’s kind of weird that people romanticize Kadri.

Toronto Maple Leafs Welcome a Villain Back to Town

I used to write about how underrated he was, how he was a legitimate #1 centre, and it was the topic (other than maybe Jake Gardiner) I used to take the most heat about.

Then he got traded and the exact same people who hated him, started to hate Kyle Dubas even more, so they pretended that they were Kadri fans all along.

They were not.

It’s also comical how much Leafs fans  love to find a scape goat for their troubles, and yet, the one guy who is most responsible for that first round losing streak hitting six is the one fans constantly bemoan trading.

Even though there is not a single team in North American professional sports that would retain a player who was suspended for consecutive decisive playoff games.

And don’t forget, he was also suspended in a 3rd playoff series when he was on Colorado.

Kadri is a great player.  I have been a fan of his since the second the Leafs drafted him and he is and will always be one of my favorite players.  I just can’t stand the hypocrisy that surrounds him (and it’s not his fault how he’s perceived).

Kadri had one of the best contracts in the NHL and the Leafs would never, ever have traded him if he didn’t get suspended twice.

That is a fact.

If the Leafs had of had Kadri the last three season, they would have probably already won a Stanley Cup.

If Kadri hadn’t got suspended twice against Boston, they would definitely already have won a playoff series.

So it pains me to say that there is no one on earth more directly responsible for the Toronto Maple Leafs recent playoff failures and lack of Stanley Cups is one of my top-ten all-time favorite players,  Nazem Kadri.

Oh yeah, it’s Leafs vs Flames tonight.  Murray in net, Engvall and Robertson out, Simmonds and Anderson in.  I love Kadri, but those suspensions are unforgivable.