While the Toronto Maple Leafs have been enjoying one of their better starts in franchise history, the team’s third line centre Nazem Kadri has been having his own struggles.
Fresh off of a second consecutive 32-goal season, the London native has failed to find twine through eight games. His four points rank ninth on the team while his +/- minus 5 is tied for the worst with forward Josh Leivo. Things didn’t get any easier for Kadri last night, as he managed to put one into his own net after head coach Mike Babcock pulled Frederik Andersen with just over two minutes remaining. The 28-year-old touched on the matter the day after and very bluntly described the situation.
Don’t worry Naz, everyone has these kind of moments!
Kadri’s play has been somewhat concerning this year, but it doesn’t measure to a situation the Leafs are dealing with away from the ice. That William Nylander guy (who’s rocking a pretty gnarly beard these days) is still an RFA and was recently seen rocking another team’s jersey. It was likely just for conditioning purposes, but we’re sure a lot of Leaf fans would prefer to see him in a Buds sweater soon than later.
We’ll see if Kadri is able to bounce back on Saturday night against the Blues at home.
