Volatile Kadri missed by Leafs
The upside of Nazem Kadri — when he’s not going upside an opponent’s head — has always been on luscious display.
But the downside, five suspensions over the course of his NHL career in Toronto, twice during the playoffs, rendered him toxic, even if the Leafs insisted up and down that it wasn’t the reason for dispatching Kadri to Colorado in the summer of 2019.
From effective pest to persona non grata pestilence.
Make that half a dozen suspensions, with the addition of an eightgame knockout for a “high, forceful check,” in the view of the league’s disciplinary czars, describing an illegal hit to the noggin of St. Louis Blues defenceman Justin Faulk in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs last spring.
Yes, he’s a perennial offender. And yet. The volatile forward remains very much missed hereabouts, beloved by his former teammates and still an object of immense affection among fans. Plenty of hockey charisma if not so much self-preservation hockey smarts.
“He was a great guy to have in the locker room,” Auston Matthews said Wednesday morning, before driving a hat-trick shiv into the Avalanche with his 11th, 12th and 13th goals of the season. “He kept things light. He liked to chirp guys. Someone that you really love to have on your team but not so fun to play against.”
Not even in an 8-3 win, as Kadri accounted for two-thirds of Colorado’s goals.
Getting under a player’s skin, between his ears, is a Kadri specialty. From the wry to the wicked. Pity they’d never dare mic him up. “He told a guy that he could do his laundry,” laughed teammate Nathan MacKinnon, who returned to the Avalanche lineup for the first time since suffering a lower body injury on Nov. 6. “And he’d fight him if he played eight minutes.”
Well, those are a couple of PG disses, fit for a family newspaper. “I wouldn’t go to battle chirping him, that’s for sure,” MacKinnon added. “I’d get roasted.”
Probably his heart wasn’t in his chirp for this particular encounter. “I think maybe a little bit more friendly chirping,” Kadri predicted after the morning skate. “Those are my friends out there.”
He was warming up for a dig at the freshly ’stache-less Matthews, whose face was as smooth as a baby’s bum, his signature lip-thing sheared as part of the Movember charity undertaking for prostate cancer awareness. “I saw a picture of him. It kind of looked photoshopped almost. I’m so used to see him with that muzzy on.
“He looks like he’s 10.” Except Matthews had got there first. “I feel like I’m 16. I don’t feel like myself when I saw it off.”
In any event, it’s not the trash-talk tweedle-dumbing that got Kadri into a heap o’ career trouble. It’s the full heave-ho trashy contact, repeatedly crossing the line between physical aggressiveness and felonious misconduct. At least he never bit anybody. Though he did once grab Joe Thornton’s lengthy beard in a fight and came away with a fistful of bristle.
After every punished infraction, Kadri tugged at his forelock and swore he had learned his lesson. Then he muckrakes and molests anew. Leafs management simply didn’t trust him anymore, though we may never know all the details from off-ice incidents in his jacket, for which he was internally disciplined. Enough of a chronic migraine that he was traded to Colorado after signing a club-friendly contract, in exchange for Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot.
“Obviously, when it happened, it was a bit of a bitter situation,” Kadri said. “But it ended up being bittersweet. I was put in a great situation … coming to the Avalanche and being around a great group of guys. So, of course I was upset. (Toronto) is where I wanted to be at the time. But sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise.”
Colorado can apparently live with Kadri’s high-risk high reward inclinations. He arrived in town leading the Avs in points (27), tied for fourth in the league. He was typically havoc-creating, making mayhem with Justin Holl on front of Jack Campbell in the mish-mash that was Colorado’s second goal. He also netted the close-out goal on a night of puck bedlam.
“I came in, with the situation I’m in, I just wanted to give it my all and be super-focused this year,” Kadri said. “Try to give my team the best opportunity to win. We’ve done a great job building the culture in that room. Everyone’s expectations are high and we’re just trying to meet those.”
Even the hole Kadri put his team in during the playoffs, when the team was on a post-season roll, sweeping the Blues, is forgiven.
Maybe he’s ripened, at age 31; doubtful he’s mellowed. “Just maturity. As you get older, you start to really become grateful and appreciative for everything you have … I think it’s just part of growing up.’’