The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri has been suspended for three games. This is his fourth career suspension.
Toronto’s Nazem Kadri suspended three games for boarding Boston’s Tommy Wingels. https://t.co/YKyNt1Kcu0
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 13, 2018
Nazem Kadri Suspended
Kadri has been suspended for three games and fined for an incident with Tommy Wingels. In the middle of the third period of Game One against the Boston Bruins, Kadri came in and took down Bruins forward Tommy Wingels with a hit to the head. The hit incurred after Wingels’ own elbow on Leafs sophomore Mitch Marner.
Nazem Kadri on the Tommy Wingels hit: “I just felt like he made contact with Mitchy’s head to start and I didn’t see a call there. And he was turning up the wall so I was committed to the hit … I certainly wasn’t trying to hit him when he was down like that.”
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) April 13, 2018
So far this season, he scored 32 goals and 23 assists for 55 points. He also added 42 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 49.1 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of -1.6.
Over his 9-year NHL career Kadri has played solely for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has put up 145 goals and 168 assists for 313 career points in 488 career games. He was originally drafted in the first round, seventh overall of the 2009 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
What This Means for the Future
This could be potentially detrimental to the Leafs playoff run as it takes out a key player on the second line. With Kadri out the Leafs will have to shuffle the lines and potentially put together a line that they haven’t tried yet. Having only missed two games in the last two seasons, the Leafs have not had many chances to try lineup switches without him at centre. This could let Boston take a big series lead, and potentially the series.
Main Photo: TORONTO, ON – APRIL 07: Toronto Maple Leafs Center Nazem Kadri (43) is congratulated by Defenceman Roman Polak (46) and other team-mates on the Leaf’s bench after his goal during the final NHL 2018 regular-season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 7, 2018, at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON., Canada. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
