Senators and Leafs Discussed a Kadri for Zibanejad Trade

After Nazem Kadri’s nagging off-ice issues caught up to him and came to a head this week in Toronto — culminating with a team imposed two-game suspension for arriving late to a team meeting — Darren Dreger  made an appearance on TSN 1050‘s ‘The Drive’ and discussed how close the Leafs were to exploring trades involving Kadri.

According to Dreger, the Ottawa Senators were heavily involved in discussions involving Kadri last summer.

The following transcript comes from Nicholsonhockey.com, but you can listen to the interview embedded below. The portion on the Senators/Leafs trade discussions begin at the 10:00 minute mark.

“Yeah, they have had a number of conversations and some are going to be surprising when we divulge them. I’ll tell you that one was with the Ottawa Senators. And that shouldn’t come as a surprise for those of us who covered that Kadri draft; we know that the push for the Ottawa Senators was to draft Nazem Kadri and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat him to it.

“So there was considerable back and forth between Toronto and Ottawa, among others.”

When asked whether those trade conversations could be revisited this summer, Dreger laughed and said, “Not for what Toronto was looking for. Toronto was looking for a piece that they’re not going to get. They might’ve back last summer, but it’s not going to happen now.”

Dreger elaborated on the Kadri to Ottawa rumours on tonight’s ‘Insider Trading’ segment. The segment can be seen here and the Kadri discussions begin at the 4:20 mark.

“Well there was and there were a number of conversations between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray about the potential of a Nazem Kadri trade for Mika Zibanejad. Now, in the moment, this makes no sense from Ottawa’s perspective, but back in that day, last summer, there was some interest in this. Toronto wanted more, believe it or not, than Zibanejad to close on this deal. The Ottawa Senators got cold feet and that’s an example of a deal that turns out well when you don’t make that deal.”

It’s an interesting swing to hear Bryan Murray wax poetic about Mika Zibanejad’s potential as a number one center only to learn that he was engaging a division rival to trade him for player that he has sought since 2009.

Considering the undisclosed health scare that Zibanejad suffered in the late stages of the 2013/14 season, Ottawa’s acquisition of David Legwand to act as insulation in the event of a Zibanejad injury, or hell, even the exploration of Zack Smith as a potential second line fit, it probably shouldn’t be that surprising to learn that Senators management was shopping the young Swede.

Fortunately for the Senators, Zibanejad has come into his own after a sluggish start that has mostly been attributed to a reduced role and shitty linemates to start the season. Since being flanked by Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan, he has flourished. After being held pointless in his first eight games, Zibanejad has scored 17 goals and 37 points in his past 56 games.

Kadri’s been an incredibly productive player and to this point, he’s been the more productive NHLer, but he’s also three years older than Zibanejad. More importantly, Zibanejad’s play has improved and it seems as though he’s put his health concerns behind him. He’s even matching Kadri’s current production levels at a much younger age.

I wouldn’t mind for the Senators to kick the tires on Kadri again, but only if the asking price is reduced from Toronto “wanting more than Zibanejad”.