By repeating the story, Nazem Kadri himself can be the story with the Maple Leafs

Stop me if you've heard that before.

A Toronto Maple Leafs player plays the game of his NHL career in the playoffs. He plays like a demon all night, playing a key role in smothering the offensive of a team that eliminated the Leafs the previous season. But late in the game, he turned out to be angry all night after suffering a bad shot from one of the opposition players. In the back of the room, while everyone in the building is looking at the other end of the ice, Leaf's player finds himself alone with his antagonist. He knocks her with a vicious bend to the head.

Pandemonium ensues, although the Leafs won the match. But there is an audience in the NHL and the Leaf player is suspended for the rest of the playoffs and the first eight games of the next season. While the Leafs managed to win the next game and take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven series series, the opponent cleared the mat and won the next two games for eliminate them from the playoffs for the second year in a row. .

No, we're not talking about Nazem Kadri, whose head-check of Boston Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk on Saturday after the Leafs' 4-1 loss likely means he'll be suspended for the second consecutive year in a playoff series against the Bruins. . The NHL Player Safety Department has called for an in-person hearing on the hit, which will take place Monday before the Leafs meet the Bruins in Game 3 of their series in Toronto.

This other vicious blow was delivered by Tie Domi to the head of New Jersey Devils superstar defenseman Scott Niedermayer on May 3, 2001. Niedermayer has no longer played in the series, but Domi's blow has was seen as the decisive turning point in the defeat against The Devils.

"There is no doubt that Tie is bringing something to our team," said Leafs forward Gary Roberts. "He's good, he can skate, he likes to hit, he's offensively contributed to us this year, so yes, even if they did not put Niedermayer on the program, it probably gave them some comfort to know that Tie Domi did not look for them to check in. We failed to have Tie on the ice. "

And that's likely to happen to today's Leafs thanks to Kadri's equally selfish decision. While he had apparently taken after DeBrusk for driving his teammate Patrick Marleau into a pole on the players' bench, a thunderous strike, it's easy to conclude that Kadri was still boiling after a knee hit that DeBrusk had made him Earlier in the day. the game.

DeBrusk has not been penalized for this success and referees Trevor Hanson and Brad Meier have also failed to call many other things. The officials' performance was as bad as in the NHL, but it's no excuse for Kadri to lose his temper.

There is almost no chance for Kadri to play again in this series, which is just as bad for the Leafs as he was a year ago when he was suspended for three games for leading the striker. Bruins Tommy Wingels in the first goal.

Kadri is your clbadic recidivist. In the last six years, he has been suspended four times for a total of 14 games. Add his three fines on other occasions. This will be Kadri's eighth visit to the NHL Discipline.

Since the Player Safety Department has offered Kadri an in-person hearing, it means that the league now has the option of suspending it for at least five games. He'll be lucky if that's all he has.

As in the case of Domi, this happened during a game in which Kadri played a lot. While his teammates withered under the Bruins, Kadri showed his courage and fought back. He also scored the Leafs' only goal and in the first game of the series, a 4-1 win, Kadri's perfect pbad for William Nylander was the addition of a key goal.

It's this combination of physical play and skill that makes Kadri such an important player for the Leafs when he is under control. Third Leafs center behind John Tavares and Auston Matthews, he also creates problems of confrontation for opposing teams. The problem is that he lacks judgment and obviously will not learn from the story, his team, or his own.

Kadri could have played his last match as a Maple Leaf. While the Leafs desperately need Kadri's courage and skill, he needs to show self-control. Given the wage ceiling issues faced by Leafs Chief Executive Kyle Dubas this summer and the fact that Kadri's $ 4.5 million cap over the next three years makes it an attractive product for the other teams willing to take the risk, he will not do it. to be a surprise if it is exchanged.

"Obviously, it's disappointing for Naz, it's disappointing for our team," said Leafs head coach Mike Babbad on Sunday. "One of our key areas is the depth in the middle and obviously, Naz is a good player, he has done good things.

"However, every time you cross the line, you give someone a chance to make a decision, whether you play or not. In my opinion, we can not worry about it for the moment. We just have to move on. "

At this point, it seems like it will be the Bruins who will go from there, let alone Kadri.