The Toronto Maple Leafs had a recipe for long-term success, and that was having three of the best centres in the world lined up 1-2-3 down the middle of their lineup - Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Nazem Kadri.
Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their millions of fans, this plan was ruined by the stunning immaturity of one of those players. Nazem Kadri was suspended in two straight playoff series where the Leafs lost to the Bruins. He missed game seven in both series.
This has come back in to the news lately because Kadri has released a book (which is weird because most people wait until they retire).
Unfortunately, remembering this now only makes it worse for Kadri - he shouldn't have published a book until after the Leafs won the Cup he cost them.
Nazem Kadri is more responsible for Leafs playoff failure than anyone else
Kadri and Tavares' paths crossed only for one season before Kadri forced a trade out of town with his behavior. Now, you can argue that the call was bad, that the Leafs get more scrutiny than other teams from the NHL's Player Safety Dept. or whatever, but the fact is, he was suspended for two straight playoffs and three overall. He has been suspended six times in his career, and only Brad Marchand and Chris Pronger have been suspended more times. Kadri is quite literally one of the dirtiest players to ever play, and so it's nearly impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt with a straight face.
Furthermore, I submit that there is no team in any of the four major professional sports that would keep a player after they were suspended for back-to-back game-seven losses. The Leafs shouldn't have traded Kadri, that's true. But the fact is, they shouldn't have HAD to trade him. That makes it Kadri's fault.
You can argue whether or not they got enough for him and you are free to blame everything on Shanahan, Lamoriello, Dubas, Hunter, Keefe, Babcock or Treliving. There are a lot of people to blame for the fact that the Auston Matthews Era has produced just a single solitary playoff series win, but no one deserves more of this blame than Kadri.
First of all, the Leafs very likely would have beaten Boston in at least one of the two game seven's Kadri missed.
Second of all, Matthews-Tavares-Kadri down the middle would have been absolute insane. The Leafs never found a suitable 3C, outside of two months of Ryan O'Riely, the entire time since he left. They would for-sure have had more success if they could have run this lineup out for the four seasons that Kadri spent in Colorado on one of the most team-friendly deals in the NHL.
One thing everyone forgets about when they complain about the Leafs putting all their money into the Core Four - Kadri's team-friendly deal lowered the average cost of their star players by millions of dollars.
Also consider how many times during the post-Kadri years we heard about the Leafs needed the exact kind of player Kadri was. How many times have we heard about how they didn't get any team friendly contracts (they did but Kadri forced them to trade him) and how their depth after their stars was bad.
The Leafs lost series to Montreal, Columbus and two to Boston that Kadri's presence would likely have turned into wins. Kadri won his Stanley Cup, and if stayed in Toronto, he likely would have won an even more meaningful one with his hometown team.
You can't put all the blame on Kadri - the Leafs have screwed themselves in a dozen different ways. But I can't think of one player who had a bigger impact by leaving, and the thing is, he didn't have to leave - he made it happen.
If the Leafs get multiple kicks at the can with Matthews-Tavares-Kadri, they win a Cup, maybe more than one. But at least one.