Leafs demote Nazem Kadri; Bozak top center
Top prospect Nazem Kadri will at least start this season in the AHL after failing to make the team out of training camp.
Only a few days away from his 20th birthday, the young Kadri should benefit from the demotion as he will get more time to fully develop. The team placed large expectations on their top prospect, who despite a multi-goal effort simply could not crack the lineup.
Jonas Siegel of Fan 640 grabbed an excellent quote from team general manager Brian Burke, via Twitter:
“If I could go back to the draft and you give me the microphone again I would take Nazem Kadri again. I told him that this morning.”
Obviously, the team likes their young player but he failed to show he was NHL ready.
With Kadri, as well as Mike Zigomanis, Danny Richmond, Jay Rosehill, Christian Hanson and goaltender Jussi Rynnas demoted, the top two lines in Toronto look something like this…
Kris Versteeg – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Mikhail Grabovski – Clarke MacArthur