WARNING: Has potential to not be a Photoshop in the near future

It goes without saying that the Nazem Kadri hype machine is in full force right now. To be fair, its completely obvious why – in a world where the Leafs are entering their second consecutive year without a first round draft pick, Leafs Nation looks to their top prospect in hopes for victory down the road. And what a player to look at – Kadri is arguably one of the mostly purely skilled prospects the Leafs have ever had, and backed that up with an utter dominance of the Ontario Hockey League last year with the London Knights, finishing 5tj in regular season scoring (despite missing quite a few games due to the World Juniors – Kadri was 3rd in points per game to Taylor Hall and the very similar statted per game Tyler Seguin), and 4th in playoff scoring regardless of only playing two rounds, the other players playing at least 50% more games than him, leading him to be 1st in points per game.

With all of this said, you can see why the excitement is there. But, with excitement, comes over excitement. Quite a few people are penciling in the young centre as the anchor of the Leafs forward core. Which is fine. If they weren’t doing it for the present, many people taking him as the #1 centre, or at worst #2. Personally, I hate expecting anything out of anyone, so I’m going with the “wait until training camp is done” approach until I make my own personal conclusion on what I would do if the decision were mine. However, until that moment comes, I’ve been thinking about things I could see the team doing. And honestly? It wouldn’t shock me at all to see Nazem Kadri donning a different kind of blue and white next year.

Now, I can already feel the breath of the people that disagree with me on my neck. For whatever reason, to say he should spend a year with the Marlies seems to infuriate quite a few people. But hear me out.

No Need To Rush Him

This is the most obvious factor out of all of them – there is no need for either side to get him out of the gate as soon as possible. Unless Kadri is clearly ready to play at a not quite elite, but very high level immediately, the NHL experience will merely be an experience, giving him nothing to work with as a player, more as a person. You can get the personality part from playing in most pro leagues. But truth be told, the best way to get better isn’t by getting destroyed by people miles better than you, its to claw your way ahead of people that are in and around even ground with you, leaving the AHL as a fine place for him. From the Leafs perspective, there are already plenty of options at centre, particularly a pair in the top six in Tyler Bozak and Mikhail Grabovski. Forcing Kadri in will push one of these two out, which again, barring the chance that Nazem could be leaps and bounds better than these two, might not be the smartest of ideas.

Conversely, He Deserves More

The other chain of thought that comes from people on occasion is along the lines of “well, if we aren’t going to have him on the Leafs, might as well send him back to junior again and not waste a contract year”. First off, the concept of “wasting” a contract  year is irrelevent – there are much better reasons to send a player down other than the fact that you’re obsessed with seeing a “steal” contract down the road. Secondarily, he’s completely ripped the OHL to shreds and made it meet its maker. He’s dominated in scoring, he’s ripped apart the playoffs, carrying the Knights on his back as long as he could, he’s worked on his strength, his pest antics, his defence, and everything in between. Needless to say, there’s nothing left for him to do there, and its time for him to move on.

The AHL isn’t a bad thing

A misconception that many people seem to have, and the reason that there’s so much skepticism, is that a player being in the American Hockey League is a bad sign for their future. Of course, most of us know this isn’t the case, but for those who don’t. Look around the NHL. Marc Savard spent a year with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Martin St. Louis spent parts of 3 seasons. Zach Parise. Jay Bouwmeester. Dan Boyle. Brian Campbell. Dustin Brown, Eric Staal, Zdeno Chara, Mike Komisarek, Tim Thomas, Steve Mason, Kris Versteeg, Pekka Rinne, Marc Andre Fleury, Carey Price,  Jaroslav Halak. All of these guys spent at least a chunk of time in the minors at some point in their career, and it looks like they’ve all done alright for themselves. Heck, lets look at the two best goalies in the history of the sport – Patrick Roy spent the 1985 playoffs in the AHL, and Martin Brodeur split time with Corey Schwab in 92/93 with the Utica Devils. So to think that sending down a highly touted prospect because he isn’t quite ready for the big show just yet means that he’ll never be ready, as many seem to imply, its a bit much.

On That Note…

Sending him down to the Marlies would be perfectly in line with Burke’s history. Look at the current Ducks roster – Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Bobby Ryan all saw at least some time in the minors at some point in their career, Ryan spending more than half of 07/08 there. Also included in the mix is Ladislav Smid, who though he was traded to the Oilers a year later, did spend 05/06 with the Portland Pirates along with current Canucks defender Shane O’Brien. With the Canucks, he sent the likes of Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa, Bryan Allen, Matt Cooke, and Jarkko Ruutu down. Now, these guys aren’t of the same prestige as the top 3, of course, but they aren’t slouches either, particularly Kesler and Bieksa.

And A Curveball

Lets take hockey completely to the side for a few minutes, and think bigger picture on such a move. Assuming yet again that there isn’t a ton to gain for the Leafs or for Nazem to spend the full year in the NHL, there’s some definite potential marketing reasons to have Kadri down for a chunk of the year. Lets face it, the Marlies need to fill up some seats, and putting in a young, dynamic, skilled forward who happens to be the top prospect and arguably the most marketable player in this city for a slew of reasons on the ice for the team would do that. Even if its just for a few weeks, having Kadri on the roster could be the exposure to the average fan that the Marlies have been craving for years now. Of course, I’m not saying that he should be sent down ONLY for the reason, or that he should be sent down even if he’s good enough because of this, but its something to consider if they’re on the fence as is.

Considering all of these factors, it wouldn’t shock me at all if the decision was made to send Kadri down for the start of the 10/11 season. Would it stick? I have no clue. Is it likely? Who knows. But there are certainly worse options if the doesn’t look like he’s ready to make the massive immediate impact we’re all hoping for.