When the Maple Leafs selected what they hoped would be a future number one center in Nazem Kadri at seventh overall in 2009 the hype was real. What else was real was Kadri’s cocky attitude, and I liked it. The Leafs coaching staff and Nazem certainly had their differences as he bounced up and down from the NHL to the AHL. Coaching was a huge problem at this point for the Leafs and Kadri fell victim to the situation. It’s not like the team was exactly great by any means either, so Kadri’s sniffs that he did get were not as quality as you may believe.

Believe it or not Kadri has played games in nine straight seasons for the Leafs. He’s produced a total of 258 points in 408 games and a juicy 302 penalty minutes (95 last season being a career high). What else that’s interesting to note is that Nazem also had a career high in points last season with 61. He scored 32 goals which was only one goal shy of Malkin and two more than Connor McDavid. Kadri was in the top 20 goal scorers list of 2016-17 tied with Patrick Eaves, Jeff Carter and Mark Scheifele.

Kadri has turned into one of the better two way players the Leafs have to offer, not to mention his toughness on the ice and will to drop the shoulder and lay someone out. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the London native mature into a quality NHL player like he is now. Should we be shocked that Coach Mike Babcock has Kadri firing on all cylinders and playing the best hockey of his career? Not at all, Babs has been known for getting the most out of his players and bringing out the best in them on the ice.

Kadri has himself an off season training team that he likes to prime up for the season with. He’s been in London with Drew Doughty, Corey Perry and a bunch of other quality players who enjoy training and scrimmaging as they all prepare for another 82+ game grueling season. In those nine years of NHL hockey Kadri had never played a full 82 games as he had to deal with suspensions and deal with the wrath of Ron “let’s go” Wilson. Hopefully this off season training keeps Kadri at the same level he was last season, he was excellent in all facets of the game.

"The Dream" has some of the softest hands on the Leafs, but he’s also a player who draws the most penalties every season and very rarely is it a dive. He’s just shifty and an irritating player to the opposition so they seem to have no problem giving Nazem a bit of a shot after the whistle or getting a little too aggressive with their stick as he catches them watching his snazzy nazzy mittens at work.

Nazem Kadri is a veteran now on this Maple Leafs team and he begins his five year extension this year at 4.5 million per season. It’s an excellent deal for both the Maple Leafs and Kadri, he’s going to be a big piece for this young soon to be powerhouse. He’s coming into this season with expectation of another step forward as well as his leadership role.

“I had to learn the hard way, through my mistakes.” I’ve come a long way from that, in showing the young guys what to do and what not to do.”

“I want to take another step and evolve in the same direction the team is going.”

It’s pretty evident to me that Kadri has the right mentality as he and the Leafs prepare for the 2017-18 season.

Do you think Kadri will produce above 60 points again this upcoming season?

Rookie camp is just around the corner with the action beginning on Friday this week.

Friday, September 8 – 7pm – Montreal vs Toronto
Sunday, September 9 – 7pm – Toronto vs Ottawa

Have a great week, happy hump day!

Thanks for reading.

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