Anyone who thinks it won't be an emotional night for Nazim Kadri as he faces his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, for the first time since being traded in the offseason is dead wrong. While appearing on Leafs Lunch Friday, Dave Poulin, a former player and general manager of the Toronto Marlies while Kadri was playing there in his late teens, stressed this is a big one for the 29-year-old.
“It's personal, it's absolutely personal," stated Poulin.
“It is very, very emotional. He's an emotional player. He thrives on emotion. Emotion could be the reason, or one of the reasons, they (Toronto) felt it was necessary to move him, because it was his emotions that took him out of the last two years of the playoffs."
Kadri was, of course, suspended in back-to-back playoff series against the Boston Bruins while still with the Leafs, something many felt was selfish and really hurt the team. For that reason, Poulin says trading him was essentially a necessity for Toronto, despite him being a lone highlight when the team was going through some really tough times.
“I think it was necessary, I really do. As effective as he could be, at the critical moments when you needed him, he wasn't there. And it was two years in a row. One would be a one-off. When it happened the second year, I think compounded it.”
Right now, Poulin feels the trade is highly one-sided on Colorado's favour. He called Kadri a "perfect fit" for the team, and he's showing it by getting seven goals and 15 points in 22 games. However, Poulin says if Tyson Barrie can turn his play around under new Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe, the trade would balance out eventually. Barrie, however, is a free agent at the end of this season. Should he have a great finish to the year, his price tag would likely be too much for the Leafs to handle if they wanted to bring him back.
Source: TSN.ca
