On Saturday night, we saw another installment of the hockey version of Star Wars, with Don Cherry taking on the role of Obi Wan Kenobi and casting Leafs GM Brian Burke as Darth Vader. The latest dastardly act perpetrated by the Dark Lord was his mistreatment of Ontario-born forward Nazem Kadri, who after being called up on an emergency basis last week due to injuries to Matt Frattin and Clarke MacArthur, scored a goal in regulation and a highlight reel attempt in the shootout that gave Toronto a 4-3 victory in New Jersey Friday night.
The former Coach Of The Year continued his campaign of slamming the current Leafs management over their lack of Ontario players on the province’s most historic franchise as the main reason why the club will not qualify for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
Cherry claimed that the 21 year old Kadri has been mishandled since being drafted 7th overall in 2009 and that his demotion on February 1 was a primary contributor to the Leafs second half swoon.
“He’s got the magic hands…and how long have I been going on, you know what folks, I’m not saying they would have made the playoffs with ‘em…..but he was sent down, they said he was sent down because he had deficiencies and he’d give the puck away and everything in their end, he was a plus when he was sent down……he’s a plus now… They’ve had guys on this club go 33 games without a goal and they’re a big minus, don’t hit, don’t fight, don’t do anything and we know who they are…What a shame to send this kid down. It is unbelievable, we could have made the playoffs……I’ve never seen a first round draft choice get treated as bad…….someone should pay”
“Grapes” does have some valid points, players like David Steckel continued to play third or fourth line checking center while not scoring a goal for almost half a season, which is partially mitigated by the fact that he is one of the league's better face-off men. The assertion that Kadri in his current state was the difference between making and missing the playoffs is totally absurd. There were not many instances of those "magic hands" during his 16 game stint in December and January.
Plus/minus has always been called a misleading statistic, but if we have to use it as a gauge, Kadri was +5 in his first six games around Christmas and New Year’s, but for the remainder of his stay he went -3, scored only one goal in those 10 games and starting to resort to old habits, turning over the puck more often. At that point, it was a decision whether to keep him up in the NHL as a fourth liner or to let them play 20 minutes a night with the Marlies and continue to hone his skills.
There is enough blame to go around regarding Kadri’s lack of progress. Three years ago he was the star of training camp as an 18-year-old, but the organization thought that another year in junior and playing for Canada in the WJC was the better course. The following year, he came to training camp with an additional 10 pounds of muscle and the expectation of making the team, but he fell short and stumbled out of the gate in the AHL.
In almost 2 seasons going back and forth between the Marlies and Leafs, there have been flashes of the talent that Burke thought he was adding the organization, but never on a consistent basis. He's been moved from his natural center position to wing and has been placed on every line, without any great level of success.
This off-season will be a crossroads for the young forward. The problems that were a sticking point with former coach Ron Wilson will even further be a cause for consternation for the more defensive-minded Randy Carlyle. For Kadri's imperfections to be acceptable, he needs to show some signs that he will produce more consistently on offense, to the level of being a top six forward. If Burke and Leafs management believe that he is destined to be just a complementary player who shows the occasional flash of brilliance, then they may be included as part of a package to bring in an impact forward or a goaltender.
At this point, is Kadri’s value so low on the open market that it makes more sense to hold onto him and hope that matures and improves in the next season or two??…. or do you think that the die is cast and that Toronto should use him as a piece in a trade??
If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.
For Those on Twitter:
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»