No. 71 on Sportsnet magazine’s list of reasons the NHL has never been better
For the second time on the same shift, Nazem Kadri is trying to squeeze one past New York Rangers defenceman Anton Stralman. Had he succeeded on his first attempt, the second would never have occurred. Kadri had been gifted a glorious chance to build the Maple Leafs a three-goal lead early in the third period when a behind-the-net bobble by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist left him with hockey’s equivalent of an uncontested layup. But before Kadri could make the net less empty, Stralman swooped in to shoo the puck away. As Toronto’s fans audibly fretted about the consequences of missing a sure goal, the action moved to the other end of the ice. Now Kadri and Stralman are going one-on-one again—the former attempting to choke off a clearing attempt at the Leafs’ line, the latter desperately trying to get black past blue. With the puck pinned against the boards, Kadri crashes into Stralman like a running back hitting the line on fourth and inches. The puck goes out, Stralman goes down and, on the way up, gets a little cross-check from Kadri, a small gesture to say he’s seen enough of him in the past minute.
Though missing a chance to cash in on offence isn’t ideal, Kadri’s abundant skill makes the occurrence a noteworthy anomaly. That he recovered to make a defensive play that had nothing to do with finesse and everything to do with fortitude is another indication that the ongoing apprenticeship of a tantalizing talent is right on track.
At first blush, Kadri and Mike Mitchell, a college basketball star in the ’70s and ’80s, don’t have much in common. In fact, Dave Poulin might be the only person who would ever connect the dots. The Maple Leafs’ vice-president of hockey operations was hired about a month after the club made Kadri the seventh-overall pick in 2009. Few have monitored Kadri’s progress more closely than Poulin, who couldn’t help but see similarities to Mitchell, his old roommate at the University of Notre Dame. When the pair lived together, Poulin was a scoring centre for the Fighting Irish hockey team and Mitchell was a shooting guard for an acclaimed basketball program that was in the process of moulding the likes of John Paxson, Bill Laimbeer and Orlando Woolridge into solid NBA players. Mitchell came onto the scene as a heralded freshman from California, but he quickly found out his planned transition from high school star to professional basketball player required a lot more than pulling on a college uniform for a stretch. He was, as Poulin says, a good kid, but another example of an exceptional athlete who simply got too accustomed to things always coming easily. “Since seventh grade, everyone had done everything for him, through no fault of his own,” Poulin says. “It’s no different from a big first-rounder walking into an NHL dressing room. His skills have enabled him to be in a position where everything is done for him, and you have to learn through that.”
Mitchell adjusted well enough to become a senior team captain for the Irish, though he never cracked the NBA. Kadri is now thriving at the highest level, but only after traversing the learning curve by bus.
Some of the things Kadri had to absorb in parts of three seasons with the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies were more basic than others. “I don’t think he’d ever seen a weight room in his life,” says Marlies coach Dallas Eakins. “He just didn’t need it.” Kadri’s dietary habits were publicly questioned, and the youngster acknowledged the need for a commitment to proper nutrition. Less noted was the fact that Kadri devoted ample off-ice time to improving his physique, just not with the most beneficial approach. “He did what virtually every player who’s been told he’s small his whole life does and got too big right away,” says Poulin, adding that Kadri—now listed at six feet and 188 lb.—initially spent too much time on upper-body strength and not enough building leg muscle.
The gym may never have been Kadri’s natural environment growing up, but he always shone on the ice. On the day Toronto drafted him from his hometown London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, Leafs director of amateur scouting Dave Morrison said what drew him to Kadri was that “you never have to look for him.” Dave Andrews certainly didn’t have any trouble spotting him. The commissioner of the AHL caught a couple of games in St. John’s in November of 2011 during Kadri’s second season with the Marlies. In the first contest, Kadri torched the IceCaps for two goals and four points before burying another in the second contest. Andrews’s assessment was direct. “He said it was the best he’s seen a player play in the AHL for years,” Poulin says.
If that was the takeaway for an informed, objective observer, imagine the reaction of a fan base desperate to see the fortunes of the big club improve. Every burst of production brought about cries for another callup from the Leafs faithful. But when auditions did come, they were often filled with angst. “I felt like I had to be first, second and third star in order to stay up here every single game,” says Kadri.
But earning stripes goes beyond scoring points. Kadri’s defensive-zone play required a lot of work, which, according to Eakins, is largely because players of Kadri’s calibre spend so much time with the puck in junior that they don’t really learn to defend. That changes at the pro level. “He just thought he’d take the puck, skate through everybody and that would be that,” Eakins recalls. “He was a turnover machine.” Kadri isn’t the first elite prospect to tackle that flaw. Jason Spezza was an ultra-creative centre coming out of junior who was also prone to giving the puck up in bad spots. The Ottawa Senators—who coveted Kadri at the ’09 draft—brought Spezza along slowly and he, like Kadri, spent extra time in the AHL because of a work stoppage. By his third year in the NHL, Spezza was cranking out goals and assists, and while a tendency to eschew the simple play lingered, he learned to strike a much better balance. No hot prospect wants to spend more time than necessary at discount hotels in Syracuse and Peoria, but an old axiom holds that while many players had their careers ruined by being rushed, taking a little extra time never hurt anybody.
Kadri—who played 50 Maple Leafs games combined over 2010–11 and 2011–12—said the demotions could be demoralizing, but he tried to maintain the right head space. “I didn’t pout about it, I didn’t argue,” he says. “I just went down and did what I had to do and worked my way back up.”
In truth, a little cajoling has never been a bad thing for the 22-year-old. Poulin says the humility brought on by humping your own equipment in the minors serves a lot of prospects, including Kadri, well. He also credits Eakins and his staff for the job they did with Kadri, rewarding him when it was warranted and stapling him to the bench when needed. Mark Hunter, GM of the Knights, remembers giving Kadri a verbal shake one night in November 2008. Hunter was helping his brother, coach Dale, on the Knights bench and decided the club needed a little more from its star. “The odd time he gets in that mode, skating around in circles,” Hunter says. “I said, ‘C’mon Naz, just start hitting people, get involved,’ in a little harsher words than that.”
The blue streak snapped Kadri out of his lethargy and he walloped an opponent, then helped set up two goals in a come-from-behind win. While the impact of his creativity could be seen on the scoreboard, the full force of his hit wasn’t measured until X-rays after the game revealed Kadri actually broke his jaw on the play, proving that, though he may drift at times, Kadri’s return can be resounding. “You can bring him back, and he can win a game for you,” Hunter says.
Keeping close tabs on the young star is a job that now falls to Toronto coach Randy Carlyle. Kadri is getting much better at recognizing danger and might be in line to become the first homegrown Leaf to lead the Buds in scoring since Vincent Damphousse in 1990–91, but in a given game, a handful of more experienced Toronto forwards receive more playing time. The contest versus Stralman and the Rangers was an important victory Kadri helped key, first with a slick pass not everyone could have made to streaking defenceman Ryan O’Byrne for a two-on-one goal in the second frame, then with hard plays like the one to clear the puck in the third. Still, he saw just 12:55 of ice, a full 10 minutes less than
No. 1 pivot Tyler Bozak. Through 39 games this year, Carlyle had seen fit to give Kadri more than 20 minutes of action just once, when he had two goals and an assist in a 5–4 shootout loss to Buffalo. Kadri is making great strides, but his coach will always make sure the horse and cart are in the right order. “I just think you’ve got to be on top of him, and Carlyle has done a real good job,” says Hunter. “Randy is hard on him, but he knows he’s got a special player.”
Hunter should know. He’s been watching Kadri skate for more than 10 years because his son, Garett, grew up in the Sarnia area playing AAA hockey with the Lambton Junior Sting and often faced Kadri’s London Junior Knights. Hunter says a lot of people are only now beginning to realize the physical edge Kadri can carry, but no one has to convince Ryan Hamilton, who’s spent a lot of time playing with Kadri the past couple of years. “Naz is a skilled player, but he likes to go into those gritty areas where goals are found,” says Hamilton.
By his own admission, Kadri looks to pass a little more than he should, but increased strength has put some torque into a shot that’s diversified his portfolio. “He’s not necessarily a pure set-up man, he’s not necessarily a pure goal scorer,” Poulin says. “He’s a point producer.” And he carries himself like one, with a swagger that’s survived the hard lessons and is essential to his success. “I love him because he’s so confident,” says Eakins.
That’s a sentiment every Leaf fan can connect with, even if some still debate the path Kadri was put on. “It’s out there so much: ‘This is what he can do, he should have been here two years ago,’” says Eakins. “The guy has the same name, but that’s a different player.”
This story originally appeared in Sportsnet magazine. Subscribe here.
