Kadri close to return
Centre participates in first full practice after suffering concussion last month
Nazem Kadri can’t say for sure when he will return to the Maple Leafs lineup.
Still, the centre can’t help but peer down the road — say, in about five weeks’ time — and envision another first-round playoff matchup with the Boston Bruins. “It would be fun,” Kadri said. “It’s hard not to look into the future and see what things could be. Either way, we are looking forward to it. We know home ice is important, so we are going to collect as many points as we can coming down the stretch.” Kadri is inching his way closer to helping his teammates accomplish as much.
At Rogers Arena on Tuesday, he participated in a full practice for the first time (though he did not take part in line rushes) since suffering a concussion against the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 19. “I feel good, it’s day by day,” Kadri said. “Progression has been great, I have been feeling better each day and that’s exactly what you want. Hate sitting on the sidelines, but it’s part of the protocol and I understand it’s a process.”
Kadri had no issue with the hit by Blues defenceman Vince Dunn that caused the injury. “I remember exactly what happened — it was a clean body check, a good hit,” Kadri said. As far as the Leafs’ lineup goes for Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks, there
appears to be some moving parts. Nic Petan centred the fourth line with wingers Tyler Ennis and Trevor Moore, in place of Frederik Gauthier. But Leafs coach Mike Babcock would not commit to replacing Gauthier with Petan.
“I don’t know if I’m doing that for sure,” Babcock said. “The Goat gives us a real good defensive guy with guys who aren’t really that defensive and they end up on the positive side of the ledger each night. I have not decided what I’m doing. That’s how we practised, just looking at our options.”
Said Petan: “I don’t know what the rotation is going to be like, but I know I’m in.”
Was Garret Sparks distracted as he went through most of this season without a contract for 2019-20?
“It’s probably different when you’re dealing with millions and millions of dollars,” the Leafs’ backup goalie said. “For me, it’s just about continuing to work toward something with this team, this organization, it’s somewhere I have been since Day 1 and I just really didn’t have any interest in going anywhere else.”
Sparks on Tuesday signed one-year extension which will pay him $750,000 next season, a bump over the $700,000 he is earning now. Sparks, who would have been a restricted free agent on July 1, will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2020. In 14 games, the 25-year-old Sparks has compiled a record of 7-5-1 with a .902 save percentage and a 3.09 goals-against average. “It has been emotionally taxing, I won’t lie,” Sparks said of his first full season in the NHL.