Kadri Misses Meeting - Sent Home

[Kin]

Management has Horachek's back.

It's a pretty telling move. You don't discipline a player you don't want to keep/develop to this extent.

Sure you do. Obviously we don't know the whole story here but what the Leafs do with Kadri here does not just apply to Kadri, it's also sending a message to everyone else in the organization.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Well that obviously changes things. Kadri's a heck of a player, and it still seems like the Leafs have him in their long-term plans. Hopefully whatever it is that caused this is something Nazem can fix.

 

[L K]

I certainly hope a little bit of context comes out of this.  Right now this adds a whole crap tonne of chaos to a team that is already a joke.  I get sending messages to the organization but the notion that they come through the punishment of a single player concerns me.  Or this is all justified against Kadri but I'd certainly like some context to amount to a 3-game suspension.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I certainly hope a little bit of context comes out of this.  Right now this adds a whole crap tonne of chaos to a team that is already a joke.  I get sending messages to the organization but the notion that they come through the punishment of a single player concerns me.  Or this is all justified against Kadri but I'd certainly like some context to amount to a 3-game suspension.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a bunch of little things coupled with the most recent thing and they want to nip it in the bud completely because they want to keep him long-term.

That's completely guessing though.  I don't think it really helps or changes things to tell the media/fans everything though - it's a story regardless.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Full quotes from Shanahan:

"Naz is an important part of our future," Shanahan told reporters. "...We expect a certain level of professionalism from him. It's time for him to start making better decisions. There's a history here."

?There?s more to this, obviously,? Shanahan said. ?If this were just a case of Nazem being 15 minutes late for a meeting, one time, you could probably sweep this under the rug and handle it internally.?

??Naz is an important part of our future. We like Nazem Kadri. His teammates like him. We expect a certain level of professionalism. It?s time for him to start making better decisions. There?s a history here.?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/shanahan-says-kadri-will-sit-for-two-more-games/article23403257/

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

On Sportsnet the other night Kypreos seemed to allude to there being a history of these types of things going on with Kadri, and they were kept quiet.

This team is a train wreck.  I find it hard to believe they would suspend Kadri for 3 games without just cause, more then just using him to send a message to the rest of the team.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Video of the Shanahan presser: http://www.tsn.ca/video/shanahan-there-s-a-history-here-1.227862

 

[Strangelove]

Since when does a team suspend one of its best players for undisclosed reasons? Particularly when you have an entire team (with Kadri as a major exception) which has utterly mailed it in for most of the season and which has dealt poorly with the media--both of which have had a far greater impact on the Leafs' reputation than being late for a meaningless meeting between a bunch of bad hockey players and a lame duck coach.

Obviously I don't know the details, but this seems like a piss poor way of dealing with whatever dispute they had. The only message it sends to the rest of the team is that their complete indifference and lack of pride all season long is tolerable, but being late for practice (and whatever other goofy little things Shanahan has dreamed Kadri did) is worthy of a severe suspension.

 

[Strangelove]

It's also fitting that Shanahan has woken up from his season-long slumber--a season in which he has said little to nothing about the Leafs' long or short-term strategy as a franchise--to hold a discipline press conference.

Someone should remind him that he's being paid to be president of the Leafs, not the organization disciplinarian.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Since when does a team suspend one of its best players for undisclosed reasons? Particularly when you have an entire team (with Kadri as a major exception) which has utterly mailed it in for most of the season and which has dealt poorly with the media--both of which have had a far greater impact on the Leafs' reputation than being late for a meaningless meeting between a bunch of bad hockey players and a lame duck coach.

Obviously I don't know the details, but this seems like a piss poor way of dealing with whatever dispute they had. The only message it sends to the rest of the team is that their complete indifference and lack of pride all season long is tolerable, but being late for practice (and whatever other goofy little things Shanahan has dreamed Kadri did) is worthy of a severe suspension.

There must be something going on with him that is really irking management, and maybe they figured the press would find out and they wanted to put it out there first.  Who knows what he did, but maybe he's going out and partying it up and was late for practice because he was hung over.  Who knows, but in a year that is a circus it must have been bad enough to add another ring to the show.

I have a great employee, who was chronically 5 minutes late for work.  I cut her slack all the time, but eventually I was so bothered by her bad habits that I took a stand with her.  I liked her enough that I challenged her to change or lose her job, rather than just firing her.  Maybe that's what the Leafs are doing with Kadri.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

It's also fitting that Shanahan has woken up from his season-long slumber--a season in which he has said little to nothing about the Leafs' long or short-term strategy as a franchise--to hold a discipline press conference.

Someone should remind him that he's being paid to be president of the Leafs, not the organization disciplinarian.

Shanahan's job isn't to be in front of the press everyday.

 

[TML fan]

If Kadri's attitude is really as bad as this situation may be suggesting, I highly doubt he will change it just to stay with this train wreck of a franchise.

Trade him.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

He was arguably their best all-round player this year and he's an RFA this Summer.

Good luck with that.

What do you mean?

I mean it's very possible that he'd take this poorly.

Maybe he becomes more difficult to sign. Maybe he doesn't want to give up UFA years now (long term contract) as a result. Maybe he demands a trade, I don't know.

It just seems very odd to me that they'd choose to do this all at once.

It doesn't seem as if he's getting 3 games for missing a team meeting. It seems as though they made their point and gave him one (and he apologized, blah blah) for that and now they are saying, "Oh yeah and all that other stuff is bothering us too, you know from before, so you're out for the next 2 games".

Why didn't they deal with the problem (or the "history" as Shanahan put it) when it came up?

Just seems poorly handled IMO.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

He was arguably their best all-round player this year and he's an RFA this Summer.

Good luck with that.

What do you mean?

I mean it's very possible that he'd take this poorly.

Maybe he becomes more difficult to sign. Maybe he doesn't want to give up UFA years now (long term contract) as a result. Maybe he demands a trade, I don't know.

It just seems very odd to me that they'd choose to do this all at once.

It doesn't seem as if he's getting 3 games for missing a team meeting. It seems as though they made their point and gave him one (and he apologized, blah blah) for that and now they are saying, "Oh yeah and all that other stuff is bothering us too, you know from before, so you're out for the next 2 games".

Why didn't they deal with the problem (or the "history" as Shanahan put it) when it came up?

Just seems poorly handled IMO.

Maybe they were trying to give him the opportunity to fix things himself and when this happened it was the last straw.  Who knows, and I have no idea how common or uncommon it is league-wide.  My guess would be there are tons of incidents yearly that you never hear about.

But my comment was more along the lines of thinking that he's a RFA so the team has control no matter what.  He can be upset and sit out if he wants, but I doubt that's a strong career move right now.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

It's also fitting that Shanahan has woken up from his season-long slumber--a season in which he has said little to nothing about the Leafs' long or short-term strategy as a franchise--to hold a discipline press conference.

Someone should remind him that he's being paid to be president of the Leafs, not the organization disciplinarian.

Shanahan's job isn't to be in front of the press everyday.

I swear I read at another point in the season where someone was complaining that Shanahan spoke to the press too much.

 

[Strangelove]

It's also fitting that Shanahan has woken up from his season-long slumber--a season in which he has said little to nothing about the Leafs' long or short-term strategy as a franchise--to hold a discipline press conference.

Someone should remind him that he's being paid to be president of the Leafs, not the organization disciplinarian.

Shanahan's job isn't to be in front of the press everyday.

Not sure where I implied that it was? His job is to oversee hockey operations. Being totally invisible while the team has one its worst seasons ever is not a particularly effective way of doing this.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Not sure where I implied that it was? His job is to oversee hockey operations. Being totally invisible while the team has one its worst seasons ever is not a particularly effective way of doing this.

Ok, then I'll say that being in front of the press everyday (or at all really) doesn't change how effective he is at his job, like at all. I remember when Burke was hired in the same role in Calgary he said that he was looking forward to being in the shadow a little bit more and not having to be front and centre. That's more of the GM's responsibility.

 

[Strangelove]

Not sure where I implied that it was? His job is to oversee hockey operations. Being totally invisible while the team has one its worst seasons ever is not a particularly effective way of doing this.

Ok, then I'll say that being in front of the press everyday (or at all really) doesn't change how effective he is at his job, like at all. I remember when Burke was hired in the same role in Calgary he said that he was looking forward to being in the shadow a little bit more and not having to be front and centre. That's more of the GM's responsibility.

Being in the shadow is one thing. But when your team is floundering, popping out every once in a while to talk about how you plan to right your ship is part of the job description, same as the CEO of any company. It gives me a bad taste in my mouth to see this be Shanahan's only real contact with the media in the middle of this disaster of a season.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

He was arguably their best all-round player this year and he's an RFA this Summer.

Good luck with that.

What do you mean?

I mean it's very possible that he'd take this poorly.

Maybe he becomes more difficult to sign. Maybe he doesn't want to give up UFA years now (long term contract) as a result. Maybe he demands a trade, I don't know.

It just seems very odd to me that they'd choose to do this all at once.

It doesn't seem as if he's getting 3 games for missing a team meeting. It seems as though they made their point and gave him one (and he apologized, blah blah) for that and now they are saying, "Oh yeah and all that other stuff is bothering us too, you know from before, so you're out for the next 2 games".

Why didn't they deal with the problem (or the "history" as Shanahan put it) when it came up?

Just seems poorly handled IMO.

Maybe they were trying to give him the opportunity to fix things himself and when this happened it was the last straw.  Who knows, and I have no idea how common or uncommon it is league-wide.  My guess would be there are tons of incidents yearly that you never hear about.

But my comment was more along the lines of thinking that he's a RFA so the team has control no matter what.  He can be upset and sit out if he wants, but I doubt that's a strong career move right now.

Yeah I don't know the specifics so it's hard to really judge the move.

I can't really recall any incidents of good young players being scratched (on a horrific team)for lack of professionalism. For bad play, lack a defensive awareness type things, sure, a game here a game there. Multiple games in a row? Again, nothing comes to mind, and I follow a lot of the league through fantasy everyday.

To me, the Leafs need as many good players as they can get right now (which is why I mentioned him being one of the best players on the team this year). Kadri won't necessarily damage his career by sitting out. Didn't happen to Johansen or O'Reilly.

I'd hate to see him demand max money out of spite, or decide that he simply doesn't want to play here anymore (I'm sure some players are feeling that way on this squad).

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

To me, the Leafs need as many good players as they can get right now (which is why I mentioned him being one of the best players on the team this year). Kadri won't necessarily damage his career by sitting out. Didn't happen to Johansen or O'Reilly.

I mean sitting out long-term.  Neither of those two players did it, and O'Reilly seems to be a pretty unique situation.  I doubt that after this suspension by the team that sitting out a significant portion of the next season would increase his value to other teams if he was looking for a big payday that the Leafs would be unwilling to offer.  I don't know the rules exactly but I believe Leafs could just go to arbitration with him anyway.