ON THE MARK.

WHO DOES KADRI REMIND YOU OF?

Nazem Kadri isn't the first hockey player to blossom in his third NHL season, and he won't be the last.  Just ask his coach, Randy Carlyle. If anybody knows about toiling for the Leafs as a young, promising player, it's Carlyle.  "Kitty" was a highly regarded defenseman who was expected to join Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull and the aging Jim McKenny, Brian Glennie and Claire Alexander on the Leaf blueline.  He pretty much split his time between the Leafs and their Dallas farm team for his first two seasons, unable to gain a starting spot.  The potential was still there, but the Leafs opted to go with 20 year old Trevor Johansen on the back end, which meant Carlyle was expendable.    Now, think of Kadri's situation over the past three years with Ron Wilson at the helm. He wasn't living up to his potential as the 7th pick overall in the draft, Wilson was questioning his desire and his conditioning, and the kid's morale was at an all-time low.  He didn't seem to have much of a future with the Leafs, even though he was 21 years old. 
    Randy Carlyle was 21 when he was traded, along with 25 year old George Ferguson, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for 30 year old defenseman Dave Burrows.  Burrows ended up playing 151 games with the Leafs, made no impact, and was out of the NHL at the age of 32.  Carlyle went on to play over one thousand games in the NHL, and won the James Norris Trophy at the age of 24.  Lopsided trade?  Absolutely.  Carlyle had a near-Hall of Fame career in Pittsburgh and then in Winnipeg, where he had to battle the Oilers, Flames and Canucks for so many years.  Kadri announced yesterday that he will NOT be traded by the Leafs, and that he will be the cornerstone that everyone had HOPED he would be.  Rather than worry about Ron Wilson dressing him down in public or Brian Burke burning up the phone lines looking to trade him, he can relax and set his sights on being the Leafs number one centre.  And, if he can follow in his coach's skates, Kid Kadri might even turn into an all-star by the time he's in his mid 20s.   After seeing some of the moves he put on last night, I'm looking forward to monitoring his progress.
       OK, I knew the Chicago Blackhawks were a good team, but I had no idea HOW good.   Nobody could've predicted a start like this.   Last night a 3-0 win over St. Louis.  That means a 20 game unbeaten streak to start the season.  Joel Quennville for the Jack Adams trophy?   Jonathan Toews for the Hart?  Patrick Kane for the Art Ross? Corey Crawford and Ray Emery for the Jennings?  Take a look at the Hawks schedule and tell me they don't have a chance to go 30 games without a loss.  40 games.  Maybe even all 48 games without losing a game in regulation.   My prediction:  The Hawks will be the best team in the West, and lose to Vancouver in the Conference Final.  Roberto Luongo will be the difference.
     Sean McIndoe (@DownGoesBrown)  has an excellent article in Grantland about NHL coaches and GMs and who is likely to get the boot.  Torts, Boucher, Todd McLellan....all in trouble.   It's a good read.
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