Leafs need Kadri back on track
Toronto centre mired in slump on heels of career-high points streak
Now that the Maple Leafs appear to have Mitch Marner in a happy place, time to get Nazem Kadri on track.
When the Columbus goal cannon went off for the last of four times on Wednesday, Kadri was on the ice, having taken the offensive zone draw that came back the other way in short order for a Blue Jackets goal. When the match ended, Kadri had been blanked on four shots and missed on two more, leaving him without a point in nine consecutive games.
In that quiet span, the Leafs had a record of 4-5, but needed contributions from Kadri given it covered the six starts Auston Matthews missed with an upper body injury. The skid has left Kadri perplexed, starting right after his much-praised careerhigh nine-game points streak, which he ran to 11 of 12 games before going cold.
“That’s how the game works — in funny ways,” said Kadri, though he wasn’t laughing as the team headed for the Columbus airport. “I honestly think I’m around the net more than I was when I was scoring a ton of those goals (seven in a 12-game stretch). I keep that up, this won’t last much longer.”
Until whipping the Carolina Hurricanes 8-1 on Tuesday, the Leafs had managed just four goals in four games. Kadri somehow missed out on that points palooza against the Canes, while Marner had a career-best four, then Kadri was blanked again in Columbus. All the Leaf centres have felt some pressure to step up in Matthews’ absence.
“Of course,” said Kadri. “But there is not much I can do at this point, without keep giving it all I can.
“Obviously it helps with Auston in the lineup, but I’m getting a lot of good looks, a ton of grade-A scoring chances. I just need some puck luck.”
After coach Mike Babcock tried every which way to get young Marner back in a groove, success came with his original line partners Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk. Kadri played a lot at the start of the year with old fox Patrick Marleau and Leo Komarov in the fortunate days when Toronto had less than 10 man games lost to injury. But with Babcock trying to get the most of William Nylander in the middle, Marleau was on his left side Wednesday, while Komarov has flipped wings to allow Connor Brown to play the right on Kadri’s line.
Kadri’s energy and edge makes up forsomeoftheadvantagesMatthews has on all the Leaf centres; size, shot, draws and backchecking. However, something was missing from Kadri’s tankonWednesdayasheevenlooked klutzy on the power play. Theories on what ails Kadri include the Leafs’ lack of home games (only three since Nov. 25 and no more until Jan. 2), preventing Babcock from matching Kadri against the other team’s star centre to give him a launch pad. That, and a general glut of games in December, with three back-to-backs since Dec. 9 and seven overall.
“I don’t think we use that as an excuse,” Kadri said. “That’s our job, to show up every single night. In the last five or six games, I don’t think we’ve been out-played in losses. That’s just how it works.
“Some games at the beginning of the year, we were getting outplayed and still finding ways to get wins. That’s to be expected. It goes both ways.”
Kadri, who turned the corner the past couple of seasons in the eyes of many for taming his personal wild streak, is still in a tie for second in Toronto goals this year (13) with Matthews and behind van Riemsdyk’s 16. Wednesday was his 444th NHL game, all with the Leafs.
Thus Babcock has not seen anything in the past nine games that he thinks Kadri can’t overcome.
“He’s just got to get back to work,” Babcock said, the same message Marner, Nylander and others have been receiving. “You go through ebbs and flows. We need him to be better.”