Nazem Kadri’s Rookie Season Comparables

Nazem Kadri’s rookie season didn’t earn him a Calder nomination. His rookie season didn’t see him make the Toronto Maple Leafs out of camp or win a spot in the Leafs’ meagre top six. He actually had two stints with the big club this year. He spent 17 games with the Leafs from November 13th to December 26th, going 17GP 0G 6A 6Pts (0.35ppg) in that span. Then from March 16th to April 9th he played 12GP with 3G 3A 6Pts (0.5ppg).

He finished the season at 0.41ppg. What does that mean for the 20 year old forward?

I went to Hockey-Reference.com and pulled a list of players who put up between .35 and .45 points per game in their age 20 season since the lockout. Those names are:

Mike Richards, James van Riemsdyk, Guillame Latendresse, Marcus Johansson, Brandon McMillan, Rastislav Olesz, Mattias Tedenby, Corey Perry, Oscar Moller, Colin Wilson, Steve Downie, Andrew Ladd, Logan Couture, Mikael Backlund, Bobby Ryan, Andrei Loktionov, Teemu Hartikainen, T.J. Galiardi, Matt Martin and Michal Repik.

There are some names on there that aren’t stars but there aren’t a ton of names on there that aren’t decent prospects. Kadri has some work to do on his game but for me it’s easier to be patient when looking at the company he’s in. Could Kadri be looking at a 20 goal season next year? We’ll find out.