Toronto Maple Leafs: Nazem Kadri Sent Down To AHL

In a move that can hardly be called unexpected, the Toronto Maple Leafs have chosen to send rookie forward Nazem Kadri down to the American Hockey League where he is expected to continue to develop his game with the Toronto Marlies.

Through 17 games Kadri registered six assists, but struggled to grasp the defensive side of the game, something that keeps many young forwards out of the NHL.

Originally selected seventh overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Kadri, (who struggled at rookie camp this summer), made a strong case to make the team out of training camp—especially in the later games where he caught fire.

The lingering issue was Kadri's inability to play in all zones and his penchant for giving away the puck in the neutral zone—ok, in all zones!

After a decent start to his AHL season where he scored five goals and nine assists in 14 games with the Marlies, Kadri was called up to the big club.

At the time of his promotion the Maple Leafs were marred in one of their worst slumps in recent memory.

To be honest, the move screamed of desperation on the part of Brian Burke and company, but I suppose he had to try something, anything to get his slumping club going.

Kadri played strong in his first game, making a couple of nifty plays and creating a number of scoring chances, but his game quickly fell off, causing head coach Ron Wilson to move Kadri from the top two lines down to the third.

Eventually Kadri saw his time reduced to the power play, where try as he might, he was still ineffective.

Another one of Kadri’s weak spots was his inability to win faceoffs. where he owned a 37.7 percent success rate through 17 games.

Sending Kadri down to the AHL to develop is not the end of the world. Numerous top prospects have needed to learn the defensive side of the game and add some much needed weight to their frames in order to compete at the NHL level.

Given time, it appears as if Kadri will evolve into a solid forward for the Maple Leafs, unfortunately for Kadri, that time is now.

Common sense says sophomore forward Tyler Bozak will be given another shot as the team's first line centre—a gamble that has not paid dividends this season.

Bozak has amassed a total of 12 points in 35 games. Three of his four goals have come on the power play, which is to say his five-on-five offense has been non-existent.

Bozak does excel in the faceoff circle (51.2 percent success rate), but that skill is hardly enough to deem him a number-one centre.

For Burke, adding a true number-one centre looks bleak at best—something he thought he had in Bozak or Kadri.

Clearly the lack of talent down the middle has been a sore sport for the Maple Leafs, and until it gets better, the results or lack thereof, will likely remain the same.

Another option for Burke would be to promote Mikhail Grabovski to the first line, but given the chemistry Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur have had on the second line, that move may do more harm than good.

Wether Burke adds a centre via trade, free agency or promotes another centre from within remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the Maple Leafs' need for a centre has never been more clear—Kadri was just muddying the waters.

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Until next time,

Peace!