Kadri back on track?
 

With a string of 1-2 point games preceding his 4a night last night , Kadri now has 13 in 13. Colborne does not seem to be along for the ride.

Kadri needs to assert himself at the AHL level now in order to be able to make the jump if/when there is a season.

Anyone watched any games? How has he looked? Colborne?

I was at Kadri's 4A game on Saturday and didn't realize he ended up with 4 assists until reading this thread. He also hit the crossbar in the 3rd. His talent is there but he still floats around in open ice rather than chasing pucks. His backchecking is horrendous too. I'm sure a big reason is his lack of size. He was dwarfed by virtually all the other players on the ice. He may be a good AHL player but I think he'd be really easy to contain in the NHL.

I didn't notice 6'5", 215lb. Colborne at all except when he picked a fight with 5"10, 186lbs. Gabriel Dumont and LOST. That must have been supremely embarrassing.

I don't know what people expect form the guy. It's like they expect him to be hitting 2 plus points per game. It's nuts.

He started weakly, but then again so did the entire team. Kadri was one of them and it took him a few games to get back on his game. He started weakly in his first two games last year, and the year before. Took him a little longer this time.

Contrary to popular belief, Kadri has played great at the NHL level when given the chance. The issue is that he's a top 6 player and he wasn't being given a shot at that. He was getting limited 3rd line time and no one to work with.

Kadri has superb offensive skill. He's never going to be a defensive player and thats fine. Trying to make him one is wasting his talent. He needs to be given a chance at the NHL level instead of getting jerked up and down between the NHL and AHL and receiving little time in the NHL.

Kadri has factored in on 27 percent of his teams goals.

The only problem is how do you just hand a guy a top-6 spot and not have him earn it and who do you boot off?

JVR, Kessel, Lupul, Grabovski, Kulemin, MacArthur then you have Bozak, Connolly, Lombardi... the problem is there is no top-6 spot for them to give. All they have available is a 3rd line spot, so it's either toil in the AHL or a 3rd line spot...

And we have already seen how well he handles the 3rd line duties in T.O.

What games have you been watching???

He looks like a huge defensive liability in the games that I've seen...

Ones from last year (he was awful from games before last season) when he displayed a much improved defensive game. Again, not Datsyuk like or anything that will be confused with a two-way forward, but adequate to not being the liability he's often said to be.

His puck possession numbers were second best for forwards, behind on Grabo.

But heaven forbid a Leaf prospect can grow...

Maasquito is correct in saying it's going to be hard for him to get a shot on the Leafs. He'll be a player but it may not be on the Leafs unless Carlyle gives him a shot (and he's made comments that indicate he might).

kadri is still only 22. By all accounts he's grown in every oppurtunity he's be given on the big team and he's learned while in the AHL (Eakins has said so many times). It won't be much longer before he's an NHL regular. He's probably the most talented player in the entire organization in terms of raw talent, outside of Kessel and Rielly.

I think the only thing this shows is that Kadri is tragically inconsistent. Clearly he hasn't panned out the way the Leafs wanted. As high as Burke was on him, the trust just wasn't ever there that he could play both ends of the ice.

He could be a factor in a more offensively oriented NHL with his creativity. However, in today's low scoring environment, he will struggle to find a role. He's not a centre nor is he a winger currently.

carlyle said his philosophy (and he held true to it in his stint last season) that if you lose a top 6 guy to injury, you call up a guy who plays top 6 in ahl and you play him in the top 6(i.e the role he usually plays and is good at). he was crushed when due to roster constraints, kadri was sent down to the ahl level to finish out the year. he wanted to keep kadri up there the rest of the season(even if it was ten or so games). He was impressed and figured kadri would lock down a spot out of camp if he kept it up. do i think kadri will ultimately play top 6 for the leafs? debateable, but i do think he gets a spot this year and either he is showcased for trade or he flops (i.e faceplants out of the gates and gets sent back down).

Time is running out but not gone yet, i think he has 2 years to prove he belongs at the next level or not. so taking into consideration carlyle wants him there, wants him top 6 at that, thats enough for me to add him if he starts out on the leafs out of camp. i wont hesitate to cut bait if he flounders, but i think he is defiantly going to be a hot add at some point of the waiver wire.