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TORONTO – The San Jose Sharks say they have forgiven Nazem Kadri, but they certainly have not forgotten the time he spent with their legendary captain.
That's what happened in this building on January 4, when Kadri and Joe Thornton exchanged serious blows before the opening clash and immediately dropped the gloves. It was a brief scrum – difficult to clbadify even as a fight – and Kadri found himself with a tuft of hair from Thornton's once bushy beard as he fell on the ice.
Kadri thought it was the beginning and the end of the incident. At least until the puck fell on the Shark Tank on November 15 and Barclay Goodrow tried to push him to fight. He took a penalty instead, which led the Toronto Maple Leafs to a quick 1-0 lead en route to a 5-3 victory.
The San Jose players seemed preoccupied with getting their hands on Kadri throughout the match and did not hide the fact that it was in response to what they saw as a lack of respect on the part of Thornton.
"I love Naz. I fished it, we won an OHL championship together [in Kitchener], I like it. I love his way of playing, "said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer before his team faced Toronto Wednesday. "I think with Joe Thornton, all I would say is that I hope that when Naz is 38 years old and will play on rebuilt knees and his career has evolved, the next generation of players is to Naz the amount of respect he deserves and has earned.
"It's a lesson."
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The lesson may have been lost for the student.
Kadri seems genuinely perplexed by the continuing agitation of San Jose with him. After the November 15 match in San Jose, he said, "I think they might have been a little too worried about the bad thing that exists."
And after Tuesday's training, he felt the initial score should have been settled when he accepted Thornton's invitation to fight in action last season.
"He initiated, he asked me to fight," Kadri said. "I do not try to fight guys who weigh six inches and weigh more than me, that's something I do not want to do. That was his decision and I felt that I had to answer the bell at that time.
While none of the Sharks had really deepened what made them particularly angry about the incident last season, Kadri seemed to surprise Thornton before the draw. He also kept his helmet shielded from the visor for the fight after the Sharks captain suggested they remove them.
"I'm never a guy who will go back or back," said Kadri. "So no matter how they want to play, it's cool with me."
Revenge is no longer as common in the NHL as it used to be, with physical games and rapidly declining fights. Heck, there have been only 11 total penalties in Toronto's last five games, and the Leafs have only won one major fight all season.
This may not represent a lot.
But with Auston Matthews joining Toronto's lineup for Wednesday's game, Kadri will be relocated to the center of the third row and will likely put him in a match situation against Thornton. It would not be a surprise to see them face off for the initial confrontation.
For his part, Thornton said he had no trouble fighting against Kadri last season before adding: "We'll see what happens tonight too. It's a hockey game, you never know what can happen. "
When the Sharks started chasing Kadri about two weeks ago, Leafs coach Mike Babbad asked his team to stay out of everything that was happening. Moreover, he was told that there was actually only one guy in the San Jose colors that Kadri really had to answer.
"They are no harder with their team than Big Joe," Babbad said. "If Big Joe wants to take care of something that has happened in the past, he can probably do it. For me, it was good for Naz.
"Naz is that kind of guy – he's a little fat anyway – so why not?"
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