Nazem Kadri does not look like he’s wearing the weight of lofty expectations or feeling any pressure whatsoever. He strolls into an outdoor rink in Toronto’s east end on a sunny afternoon, wearing undone white Reebok sneakers, light-grey pants, a dark-grey T-shirt, aviators and a backwards Raptors ball cap.
“What’s up guys, I’m Naz,” he says, smiling, hockey stick in hand.
It’s a couple days before training camp opens, and Kadri is weeks away from starting a season in which he’ll be playing with a one-year, $4.1-million contract, yet already there’s talk that he should be the No. 1 centre in one of the most important and profitable markets in the NHL. That No. 1 job is a role Kadri says he wants “badly.” But that this is the biggest season of his career with the Maple Leafs is nothing new—he’s been hearing that the past five years in Toronto. The only difference now is he’s hoping to prove himself to a coach he calls “Babs.”
The 24-year-old settles onto a bench and explains that his nickname is pronounced “Nahz”—a lot of people get that wrong. Teammates used to botch his first name and call him “Nazeem.” That earned him the nickname “Dream,” as in Nazeem the Dream. “I don’t know if I’m a huge, huge fan of that,” he says, smiling. “The guys seem to love it. It’s definitely not self-proclaimed, so let’s get that straight.”
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We’ll get another thing straight: Kadri/Naz/Dream is more important than ever to a team desperate for offence, and he’s going to be relied on to have a career year in the wake of Phil Kessel’s departure. Those who defer to analytics will argue that there’s no reason it can’t happen. Kadri is an analytics darling, with a shooting percentage that’s averaged 12.05 the past four seasons. Teammate James van Riemsdyk describes Kadri’s skill level as being “through the roof.”
Maple Leafs fans have seen flashes of that skill from the native of London, Ont., who had a career-high 50 points two seasons ago (20 goals, 30 assists), but followed it up with what he calls a “very average” season last year, with 18 goals and 21 assists. In the midst of that, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said Kadri needed to “start making better decisions” off the ice, and the centreman was scratched for three games in March.
Kadri says he made nothing but good decisions this summer: He’s working out right, training right and living right. And newly installed coach Mike Babcock is among the reasons he’s pushing himself.
“He says the sky’s the limit, really. He says there’s no ceiling for me, and I’m gonna get everything that I want out of myself and everything that I earned,” Kadri says. “Coming from a coach like that, having him believe in me is all the more motivating.”
So yes, Kadri has heard all the chatter and knows expectations are sky-high. “Before the season starts, it’s always: ‘This is the biggest season for Kadri thus far,’” he says. And yes, he’s “a little bit” sick of the talk. “But realistically,” Kadri says, “that’s the truth.”
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