He has both amazed and confounded the Maple Leafs through the years, been a pain in the butt to foes and also his own worst enemy. But approaching his 500th NHL game on Monday with Auston Matthews likely out at least a couple of weeks, Nazem Kadri is needed more than ever by the Leafs. The Leafs are now missing two-thirds of last year’s top unit, with Matthews hurt and William Nylander unsigned. Leafs captain at the time Dion Phaneuf then spied Kadri with his shirt off in the dressing room and was not impressed. “He couldn’t believe how skinny I was, how I was playing an NHL game with that physique,” laughed Kadri.

Source: National Post October 28, 2018 22:07 UTC