Former Leaf and current radio host predicted Kadri's shot at Dubas and Shanahan a week before it happened

The dust may have settled on Colorado's 4-2 series win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to secure their first Stanley Cup in 21 years, but some of the post game comments and the stories coming out after Sunday's huge win are still generating plenty of discussion.

Nathan MacKinnon calling out Sidney Crosby and essentially demanding that he get drunk at Mack's Stanley Cup party was a pretty good one. The story of Val Nichushkin's badly injured foot needing to be forced into his skate by the team's medical staff prior to Sunday's game and then going on to play over 22 minutes is another good one, but I think we all know which storyline takes the cake.

After the Avs' Stanley Cup victory, an emotional Nazem Kadri spoke with the media, stating that for anyone who thought he was a liability (presumably Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas), "they can kiss my ass".

Now, granted, there is probably some bad blood there, but Kadri is an emotional guy and a lot of what was said in the moment was likely said because the emotions were high. Kadri is a very mild-mannered guy by all accounts and having grown up in the GTA and being drafted by the Leafs and playing his entire career there and wanting so badly to be a part of the solution.. it had to hurt to be made a scapegoat and to essentially be blamed for a pair of first round losses when it took the whole team collectively to lose those series.


Kadri did also get suspended in his first postseason with the Avs as well last year. This year, however, he played hard and remained on the right side of the line and he was rewarded for it.

While I'm sure most assumed that Kadri would be focused on living in the moment, hoisting the Cup and celebrating with his teammates and his family, at least one individual knew that Kadri was going to fire a shot at the Leafs if and when the Avs got the job done. Last week, on TSN 1050's OverDrive, Jeff O'Neill, AKA O-Dog, actually stated emphatically and with conviction that Kadri would absolutely call out Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan in some facet.


O'Neill hit the nail right on the head with his prediction. Was it a little bit petty of Kadri? Sure, but I don't think any of the Leafs fans really blame him. He was revered in Toronto, and while fans were frustrated with his suspensions in the postseason, the vast majority of Leafs fans did not want Kadri moved.

In the end, the move was made, sending Kadri to the Avs as the main piece in the deal, with Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot being the main pieces coming back to Toronto. It was a deal that looked good at the time, but in retrospect, it did not work out very well for the Leafs and it has worked out tremendously well for the Avs.

I'm a fan of Kyle Dubas and what he's doing in Toronto. It doesn't mean that all of his moves were good ones, but in large, his body of work has been pretty good, especially what he was given to work with initially. Having said that, even though I'm a fan of Kyle Dubas, a part of me really loved the message that Naz sent because I cheer for the players before anything else and I was (and am) a huge Nazem Kadri fan. It hurt to see him go, but it was awesome to see him succeed.