That day is finally upon us; Nazem Kadri has been called up by the Toronto Maple Leafs. It doesn’t feel like the right time to bring up Kadri for an extended stay and personally I’d prefer he stay in the AHL to work on his game.

However with 5 goals and 9 assists in his first 14 games Kadri is likely already better than half of the Leafs’ current top six. From talking to people who watch the Marlies I get the feeling they don’t think he’s ready to dominate at the NHL level.

He’ll slot onto the new second like with Tyler Bozak and Nikolai Kulemin. People dreaming about seeing Kadri play with Kessel should remember that Kadri definitely isn’t ready to play against the tough checking assignments Kessel sees.

This feels like a desperate move by a desperate team, hopefully despite all odds it works out.