Don Cherry Attempts to Illuminate the Nazem Kadri Situation

Canadian hockey professor and colorblind fashion designer mannequin Don Cherry has taken to Twitter to try to illuminate Nazem Kadri’s situation in Toronto in just 14 tweets.

Nazem Kadri
(Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports)
Cherry’s mostly tame tirade is a response to some criticism that Kadri’s been under throughout the last year. Criticism gained momentum when Kadri was suspended by the team last season, after which he was given a four-game suspension from the league for a headshot. This weekend he signed a one-year contract with an implicit “prove it” mandate for his season.

Cherry’s tweets are in part a response to Mike Babcock talking about Kadri on Monday, saying, “I expect him to be an elite player.”

He went on, according to the Toronto Star:

“[The contract is] a home run for him,” said the new Leafs coach. “He gets to come in and have a heck of a year and put the screws to us. Why wouldn’t he? If I’m him, I’m going to have the best year of my career because I’m training the way I should and living the way I should, then why wouldn’t I have a short-term deal?”

Cherry’s 14-part series of tweets, which you can see in full below, asserts that “from day 1 [Kadri] was put down by the organization” despite coming out of the 2009 draft with a strong training camp. Cherry goes on to talk about how it seemed that Kadri couldn’t win even when he played well, so “Nazem figured he couldn’t win.”

In Cherry’s estimation, with a new coach and new management around, this is Kadri’s year to breakout and break away from the baggage of the previous regime.

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