Toronto Maple Leafs: Kadri in hot water again after brutal hit

Toronto Maple Leafs’ centre Nazem Kadri is in trouble again, this time for a questionable hit on the Bruins’ Tommy Wingels that got him tossed from Game 1 of the playoffs

If you’re Mike Babcock, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any positives from Game 1 of the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ series against the Boston Bruins.

Aside from Zach Hyman’s first-period goal, the Leafs’ offence looked stagnant throughout the game. The team had issues creating prolonged pressure in the Bruins’ zone at five-on-five.

The B’s defence did a great job of suffocating Auston Matthews and William Nylander, who both had relatively quiet nights. The worst part of this game, however, came in the middle of the third period.

Nazem Kadri, who was already aggravated by a previous penalty for boarding on Tommy Wingels, decided to double down on the stupidity and drive the head of a fallen Wingels into the boards.

Kadri was originally put in the penalty box but was swiftly tossed from the game, sending Boston to a five-minute power-play in the process.

Kadri was likely fired up after Wingels caught Mitch Marner in the head seconds earlier. But there isn’t a single excuse for what he decided was a feasible response to that.

As the Leafs’ centre said after the game, his fate is in the hands of the league now.

The playoffs are filled with rough and questionable plays. There have already been two headshots in as many days since the postseason got underway.

On Thursday, Drew Doughty had a hearing with the league for a hit he laid on Vegas’ William Carrier. He was handed a one-game suspension just prior to the Leafs and Bruins getting underway.

Kadri will face supplementary discipline from George Parros and the NHL Department of Player Safety. The question remains how many games he will get?

In the case of Doughty, it was a pretty cut and dry case. It was an errant elbow that caught a player in the head area. It wasn’t vicious enough to warrant multiple games for the Kings defenceman.

There are several different aspects at play with the Kadri scenario though.

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Firstly, whereas Doughty only has a fine on his record, Kadri is a repeat offender. The last major offence came back at the tail end of the 2015-16 season, when he received a four-game ban for a hit on Luke Glendening.

Secondly, is there intent to injure on the play? In real time, it looked vicious. Slow it down, and it looks as though Kadri could have held up and chose to lay out his opponent.

He will almost surely get one game. But is there a chance that Kadri gets multiple games for the incident?

The Leafs will have a rough go without the 30-goal scorer on Saturday in Game 2. If it’s more games, it could be a crippling loss for a Leafs squad that needs a bounce back over the next two games of the series.

News should come down sometime on Friday. Until then, the debate will rage on.

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What did you think of the hit? How many games should Kadri get? And how do the Toronto Maple Leafs will fare with Kadri out of the lineup? Let us know your thoughts below!