The 2012-2013 NHL season is in limbo and the AHL season has yet to begin, but a new controversy is already brewing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Friday afternoon Dallas Eakins, the head coach of the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs’ AHL affiliate, went on the record with some very unflattering comments about prospect and former first round draft choice Nazem Kadri. From TSN’s Jonas Siegel:
“His body fat today is probably in the bottom three to five guys in our whole camp and that’s unacceptable,” said Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins. “That’s the easiest part of coming into camp is eating correctly and training correctly.
“There’s just no coming off if you’re an athlete,” Eakins continued. “It’s no different than the normal person. You make your choice. You can either go sit on the couch, put your feet up and have a bag of potato chips or you can go on the couch and put your feet up and grab some carrots and some apples.”
Kadri, taken 7th overall by the Leafs in the 2009 draft, has an abundance of hockey talent and scored 19 points in 51 NHL games over the course of three seasons split between the NHL, AHL and OHL, but has battled inconsistency and a lackluster work ethic since being drafted. Fans, management and local sports media alike have been left wanting more so far from the London, Ontario native.
All sides will probably be waiting much longer, however, due to the comments from Eakins, which are just as unacceptable as Kadri’s unhealthy diet.
There is no hockey hotbed in the world bigger than Toronto, and the wolves that the 21 year-old Kadri are being thrown to by his own coach are some of the most rabid and hungry. The list of players, coaches and hockey personnel devoured in Toronto is not a short one.
Yes, Kadri’s fitness levels are incredibly disappointing, especially considering he spent this summer training with renowned fitness guru and former Leaf Gary Roberts, but publicly deriding him under the scrutiny of the Toronto media spotlight is only going to make the situation a lot worse instead of better.
The Leafs have missed the playoffs every year since the lockout, and still face a significant uphill challenge before they will be able to find postseason success. Kadri, given his draft status, is an important part of that equation, so he should be supported by his organization, not left with a bullseye on his back. If Kadri’s body fat results were that bad, Eakins should have taken him behind closed doors and explained to him the severity of the situation, or provided him with more information about diet and exercise. What could he possibly hope to accomplish by making the comments he did in front of a scrum of reporters?
Criticisms and mockery about weight are tough to get rid of; just ask forwards Dustin Penner and former Leaf Kyle Wellwood, two players who are still the brunt end of fat jokes and whose careers have yet to return to the same prominence they were at before their diets became the topic of ridicule. Even if Kadri somehow radically improves his fitness levels and performs to the best of his ability with the Leafs he can still expect to carry the baggage of Eakins’ comments for years to come.
Kadri, despite his immense talents, has not done a good job so far in his career of handling the pressures of being a highly-scrutinized Leafs player, although the blame is only partially his. But now Eakins’ comments will add far more weight for Kadri to carry around than any junk food ever could.
Derek Neumeier primarily covers the Dallas Stars, but also other various topics related to the sport of hockey. A Journalism graduate of Mount Royal University, Derek also writes for Defending Big D, and has done previous work with the Edmonton Oilers as a communications intern and Hockey Canada as a freelance writer. You can follow him on Twitter at @Derek_N_NHL
@Mark Ritter: I think you like many others are reading too much into Eakins’ comments. This is the same coach that said “People discount how competitive this kid is, He wants to be on the ice always, he’s got fire in his gut and he wants to win. Those are the main things I want in a player. Every time he steps over the boards he’s a real danger to score … he’s made great strides in managing the puck, he’s better in his own zone. He’s come a long way from where he was a year ago.” Kadri has historically been a productive player regardless of body size/fat/whatever you want to call it. He knew he needed to get bigger and stronger from before. He now feels stronger and has added weight (have you forgotten that he was easy to knock off the puck?). He himself thinks that it’s harder to produce in the AHL than in the NHL (his saying, not mine). If he can produce last year, than he should be even more productive with a heavier and stronger frame. Much of Eakins’ criticism stems from what he’s been eating, but Gary Roberts puts athletes on strict diets, unless Kadri had cheating stints outside his watch that nobody knows about. Legitimate concerns about Kadri have been and are undersized frame, compete level, and style of play being more flash than substance. Average-at-best stamina is also a concern because playing Carlyle-style hockey (which Eakins will train and coach) requires lots of it, which also means elite-level fitness. Coddled? That’s laughable. Last time I checked, the Leafs used to be coached by a man who didn’t like him much at all when Don Cherry says he should have been playing with the big club the whole time. You had to call him a waste of talent didn’t you? Well check out his stats at http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=96553 and then read https://thehockeywriters.com/toronto-maple-leafs-ten-bold-predictions-for-2012-13/. Remember that this was all before he started training with Gary Roberts.
Hi Stephen— you make so good points. That said, Kadri has been warned before about his fitness and the fact he came in with a high body fat is an indication that, despite his work with Roberts, that he still needs some work in that department. We all want/need Kadri to succeed, but nothing is going to be given to him, he has to show he can do it at the NHL level. As you said, there are legitimate concerns about kadri and with Carlyle and Eakins heading in a more defensive style of play, Kadri will have to be much more physical. There is no doubt in my mind he can score, but if he wants to be an NHL player he will have to contribute in all areas of the ice. The centre position is just too important and Carlyle relies on his centres to be very focused defensively. At the end of the day I don’t really care how much body fat Kadri has, but you have to admit his high BF sent the wrong message to the organization. I am curious to hear Roberts comment on this— was this part of the plan? Or, did Kadri fall of the wagon? I think I wrote the ten bold predictions article you are talking about : ), so no need to read it, and I am pretty sure I said kadri would have a breakout season. Time will tell…
Didn’t the Leafs fumble Al Iafrate’s development too?
Hey look…everyone is talking about Kadri and not about the dysfunctional coaching situation between Gordon, Cronin, Carlyle and Allaire. Good to see that Burke has finally found a use for Eakins after all. I get a real kick out of these clowns who love to put Kadri down. In his first 63 NHL games Brayden Schenn put up 20 points. Meanwhile Kadri has put up 19 points in his first 51 NHL contests( as per hockeydb.com). Maybe we should just send Kadri to the Phil Kessel school of defensive hockey and everything will be just fine.
Eakins has every right to call Kadri out for arriving in camp out of shape. The kid has been given every opportunity to make the team and Burke is banking on Kadri being a big time player. The fact he went to Gary Roberts’ boot camp and showed up out of shape is alarming— what the heck did he do all summer then? Keeping things quiet only further coddles Kadri. Like everything in life— you, and you alone, “own it”, and Kadri’s has to own the fact that he showed up out of shape/with poor body fat results. How many chances is this kid going to blow? what a waste of talent!