If the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for a reunion with one of their former stars, at least one prominent NHL insider is linking them to the possibility.
Kadri was sent to the Colorado Avalanche as part of a blockbuster in the summer of 2019, some 10 years after being drafted by the Leafs.
“I think they’re looking at the Florida Panthers and saying, ‘If we’re going to get out of this division, we have to go through them, we need more toughness and more toughness down the middle,’” Marek said.
This year, his third in Calgary, he’s put up eight goals and eight assists in 26 contests with the Flames.
Would Kadri welcome a return to the Leafs?
Assuming he’s still singing the same tune as a couple of years ago, the answer is likely yes.
“I never wanted to leave… Toronto was my home,” Kadri wrote in a 2022 article for the Players’ Tribune. “I made my case to management that I wanted to be there. We had an exciting young core with Auston [Matthews], Mitch [Marner], Willy [Nylander], Morgan [Rielly] — a great, talented group. And I just wanted to be part of the team that finally won a Cup. That’s all I wanted. But it’s a business, and what happened in those 2019 playoffs against the Bruins made it tough.”
Kadri was suspended for hits in each of the 2018 and 2019 playoffs, ultimately never getting a chance to end his time in Toronto on his own terms before the trade to Colorado.
“But I crossed a line — again — and I let our guys down,” Kadri wrote. “And I can see now that, at the end of the day, it was time for a fresh start… I was sad, I won’t lie. I was a player on the team, yeah, but I was a fan, too. Always will be.”
It would be a little ironic if the Leafs decided five years after trading him that Kadri was the type of player they needed come the postseason, but his 2022 Stanley Cup-winning performance with Colorado seemed to shut up most of his detractors.
“I love you guys,” Kadri said following the Avalanche’s Cup win when asked about his fans in Ontario. “I love you guys, that’s all is to be said. I’ve had supporters in my corner from day one, never wavered. For everyone that thought I was a liability in the playoffs, you can kiss my ass.”
Of course, whether the Leafs actually consider a reunion with Kadri is another story. With a contract that takes him through to 2029 on a cap hit of $7 million, it’d be a likely lengthy conversation, with several moving parts, if the talks were to actualize for either team.