Nazem Kadri executed his own redemption story and it was glorious

Colorado's Nazem Kadri delivered the greatest mic drop ever after winning a Stanley Cup, the cherry on top of a redemption story he wrote himself.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I know how everybody enjoyed Nikita Kucherov going shirtless and going off with the beer last year. I liked that moment. I think Nazem Kadri had a better moment, and he said fewer words. He made the point, and I loved it. And I felt that's the best post-Stanley Cup mic drop moment we may have ever seen as far as I'm concerned. For a winning side. Because you could say for a losing side Lindy Ruff might have it.

But for a winner, Nazem Kadri has it.

- Yeah, I think the best thing about the quote is that it's a "you know who you are" quote. You know what I mean? Like, he didn't have to name people. And this isn't to say that he was specifically talking about, like, Dubas, or Shanahan, or, like, media or whatever. It was--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Not specifically.

- Yeah, not specifically. It was a broad quote, but at the same time, it was also very pointed. Because even-- and again, this isn't only Toronto media. Because again, Kadri got suspended last year too, and the same conversation was going up, oh, there we go again, now he's doing the same thing in Denver. He's costing the playoffs. They'll never do anything. So like, let's not get it twisted and think that it was only a Toronto media thing. Yes, they agreed, you know.

There was a big contribution, absolutely, but those takes were coming up last year as well. So I think that that quote was for anyone who ever believed or ever thought that you couldn't, like, win or couldn't get anything done with Kadri in the playoffs. That quote was for you. Now, there's a lot of revisionist history going on, because, you know-- And again, Cuthbert touched on it earlier. The situation was what it was. And at the time, the Leafs were in a very "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation.

Now, would it have been good to have a better trade? Yeah, that would have been better. But at the time, there was kind of a crossroads where it's either you get flamed for treating Kadri or get flamed for not treating Kadri. So, like, at the time, the trade made sense. And I will still say that at the time the trade made sense. It sucks that it didn't work out. Happy for him, that he ended up going to a team that was able to use him well and he was able to excel on.

But like, the revisionist history that I'm kind of seeing is a little irritating. Because again, the trade did make sense. But it doesn't take away from the fact that it's one of the greatest mic drops I've ever seen on live television. Like, I laughed openly, like, when he said that. And just like the pure joy from him afterwards, like, it was perfect.

SAM CHANG: It was the grin on his face that really took the quote over the top. And I'm with you. I liked that it was broad, because I actually didn't even think about the Leafs or Leafs media. I was thinking-- like, he's a guy who, even this year, doesn't get suspended. And every single comment throughout the playoffs that I saw was, well, it's only a matter of time before he gets suspended. And so for him to make it all the way through, didn't do anything remotely suspendable this year, didn't do anything-- like, you know-- and to win the cup, I thought that was the perfect redemption arc.

And I loved it because he's, like-- yeah, has he made some dirty hits in the past? Yes. I'm not excusing him for doing those things. But like we've talked about before, his reputation for doing those things is a lot worse than a lot of other similar players for all of the reasons we've talked about before, namely that he's a player of color. And so for him to go-- to, like, run this redemption story all the way back by himself, I loved it.

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: I loved the quote because I completely bid. In the moment, I completely bid on it. I thought he was, like, going to be very kind, and gracious, and he was going to thank everyone from-- I mean, I think they were talking about-- yeah, they were talking about people from Toronto, support from his hometown and around his hometown. I thought he was going to genuinely just say the nicest thing possible. And then he went stonefaced, and then delivered that line, and then laughed his ass off.

It was the perfect turn. It was like Conor McGregor's best moment on the mic after a fight. He just completely-- I completely fell for it. It was awesome. I applaud him for it. He had a lot of time to think about it. And I think he executed it perfectly.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Could you imagine if Nazem Kadri was just like, I absolutely-- I will apologize-- to absolutely nobody.

- To absolutely no one!

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: It was very close to that. It was very close to that.