Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Time has come to send Kadri back to OHL


The time has come for the Toronto Maple Leafs to send Nazem Kadri back to the OHL's London Knights. Nazem Kadri has shown Maple Leaf fans that he was well worth the selection made by Brian Burke this past draft, he is a smart player with great speed and a great hockey sense and I'm sure many fans are excited thinking of this kid playing with Phil Kessel for many years to come, down the road but that time is not now. Kadri is only 18 years old and the Leafs need not rush the youngster to the show, if he has a down side, it is that Kadri is too light and is easily muscled off the puck. The youngster will need to add a few pounds to his frame over the next couple of seasons and Leaf fans should note that when the real NHL season starts and teams play their regulars and coaches start to bring in their game strategies they will quickly learn what Kadri's weakness is and use this to their advantage. The fact many of us have played hockey we know how important confidence is in the game and with a camp like Kadri has had there is no reason he should not get over 100+ points in the OHL and make the Canadian World Junior Squad. These accomplishments will garner further confidence for the youngster and dont think for a second that coach Ron Wilson will not send Kadri on his way with what he needs to do to continue on the path to Leafland. Nazem Kadri is something special but with Tyler Bozak and Victor Stalberg looking ready to make the jump as an NHL regular their is no need to rush the kid. We all know that in most cases this has not always worked out for the best in Leafland.

1 comment:

  1. Hi there,

    great blog! I'm a huge Leafs fan and I agree with you here. I think the time has come to send Kadri back, the kid has shown he has some solid skill, I think another year in junior will only allow him to get better and fine tune his skills. I'm also excited to see Bozak and Stalberg make the jump to be Leaf regulars.

    Keep up the good work and check out my sports blog at www.dustinsdleague.com. I think you'll enjoy my newest post.

    ReplyDelete