Leafs' fans happy for Kadri's success, recognize what he gave to Toronto

In the aftermath of the Stanley Cup final, Toronto fans were quick to congratulate former Maple Leaf Nazem Kadri for his success in Colorado.

Video Transcript

- And Nazem Kadri is the Stanley Cup champion. And boy, do I wish I was saying that, like, four years ago when he was on the team. Anyway. But all kidding aside, I think we've gotten to this, like, this pattern where it seems that, like, a key Leaf player that was on the Randy Carlyle-era Leafs-- sorry for the flashback-- his winning championships-- you know, Phil Kessel won two cups with Pittsburgh, Carl Gunnarsson won with St Louis. So did Tyler Bozak. And now we have Nazem Kadri.

But even though it can be one of those, like, "oh, of course" moments and even when you think of Kadri's quote about people who thought he was a liability, they can kiss his ass-- hilarious-- it's hard not to be happy for him. And again, there's a lot of revisionist history that's going on and a lot of people saying like, oh, you know, the trade looks horrible now. I will argue the trade always looked horrible.

Actually, no. The trade looked horrible, like, halfway through the season when we watched Tyson Barrie and it was like, ah, OK, not too well. But besides that, I still don't think that us as Leafs fans, like, wanted any ill will and wanted nothing but success for Kadri. And you know, we watched him last year, watching the playoff run, he got suspended again, which is unfortunate. But this year, seeing him on the mission that he was on, literally just, like, putting up points left and right-- like, he's going to have an incredible deal. And then, you know, the injuries sucked, and he was knocked out for a little bit, was able to come back, scored that overtime goal, and now he's hoisting the Stanley Cup.

And there's so much talk about it. His family holding the cup as well. The pictures of him as a kid at the Hockey Hall of Fame with the cup. Just, there's so much relief and happiness for it. And I was so happy watching him, because, again, I remember the years of darkness that he and so many of those other former Leafs went through on this team. And despite all of that, he loved being part of the organization.

And I think that's something that's so important about Kadri, is that regardless of what happened, he never regretted or never hated his time here. And back when the team wasn't that good. It's a very important thing. So you know, does it suck that Kadri couldn't have won a cup here? Absolutely. But to be honest, I'm glad he got one anyway. And we'll see what the future holds.

And no, I don't mean that he's gonna sign back with the Leafs. I don't think that's going to happen. We can't afford him anyway.