’09-10 Player Reviews: Nazem Kadri
We’ve partnered up with Pension Plan Puppets to bring to you a Player Review series, where we will be evaluating and grading the 2009-10 season for every Leaf who featured in a significant number of games for the Blue and White last season, with an eye towards 2010-11. Next up we feature Nazem Kadri, profiled by Chemmy:
“The Summary: This is the kid we wanted. Nazem Kadri is a talented prospect with slick hands and a flair for dramatic moves that have completely embarassed defenders in the OHL.
He played one game in the NHL this year as an emergency recall against the San Jose Sharks where he was a minus one and didn’t record a shot on net. Kadri represents our hopes as Leafs fans but it’s important to temper your expectations: Kadri isn’t the next Crosby and has a lot of work to do as a player and an athlete before he’s ready to be our first line center.
Generously listed at 175 pounds the first obvious work Kadri has to do is putting on muscle. In the OHL he’s a slick enough player to literally dance through defenders but that’s not going to fly in the NHL.
Kadri also needs to adjust to the pro game in that he’ll be surrounded by better players than he plays with in juniors. Actually on second thought maybe not… but Kadri will need to use his teammates more instead of trying to do it all himself. If he can land a job on the first line he’s going to be playing with a pure shooter in Phil Kessel.
Read more here.
Audience Participation:
Rate Kadri below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season.
