from Damien Cox of The Spin,
So now he's signed for two years, and now we'll see if he can back up his self-belief with performance. If he can't, Lord knows there will be enough people out there who will scream the team isn't giving him the proper opportunity, as was the case with Mikhail Grabovski.
Which brings us to the truly salient point here; like Grabovski, it's hard to see this marriage between Kadri and the Leafs being a long-term arrangement.
Even Kadri's tweet last night after signing seemed muted, measured and anything but celebratory:
"Happy to be with leafs for next couple years, looking forward to camp #leafnation #best nation"
The Leafs have bought themselves two years to see what they've really got in this talented offensive player. But can you really see this player-team relationship going on much longer than that?
He might be the most talented offensive player the Leafs have drafted since Vincent Damphousse in '86. Or at least since Brad Boyes in 2000.
But Kadri and the Leafs are like bone rubbing against bone right now. The only former top Leaf pick with a similarly problematic relationship with the team who comes to mind would be Al Iafrate, who struggled under a weak organization and with his own insecurities and only truly blossomed after he left Toronto.
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