Geek of the Week: Nazem Kadri Failing To Replicate Last Season’s Success

Scott Maran

2018-01-21

After a great 2016-17, Nazem Kadri's fantasy stock has plummeted this season.

Ever since finishing last in the league two years ago and getting the first overall pick, the Toronto Maple Leafs have turned a corner and have become a strong playoff team. After qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2013, the Maple Leafs are once again on track to be playing hockey in late April, currently sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division. However, they’ve been doing this without as much help from one of their forwards, Nazem Kadri. On pace to fail to replicate his fantastic season last year, Kadri’s offensive decline has been hurting the Leafs and the fantasy teams who drafted him.

Drafted seventh overall by the Leafs all the way back in 2009, Nazem Kadri has always shown plenty of offensive potential. After a year that saw him tally 44 points in 48 games as a 22 year old, many thought Kadri would only keep improving and become one of the most dangerous offensive forces in the game. Yet it would take Kadri a while to get back to those heights, as in the following season he only scored 50 points and in the next he only registered 39 points in 73 games.

Last year though Kadri finally broke out, tallying new career highs in goals and points. With his 31 goals and 61 points, Kadri was a valuable asset to all fantasy teams that were lucky enough to draft him. His 231 shots on goal were the 26th most by any player in the league while Fantasy Hockey Geek ranked him as the 36th most valuable skater in the NHL (in an average 12-team Yahoo league measuring G, A, PPP, SOG, and Hits).

But this year, things have taken a different turn. Through 45 games, Kadri has not even come close to providing the value he recorded last year. Using our Fantasy Hockey Geek tool we can see that Kadri hasn’t stacked up well against the rest of the players in the league this season (using an average 12-team Yahoo league measuring G, A, PPP, SOG, and Hits).
 

 

Rank

FHG Value

GP

G

A

SOG

PPP

Hits

Adam Larsson

149

8

38

3

2

51

0

141

Derick Brassard

150

7

43

12

16

114

4

63

📢 advertisement:

Nazem Kadri

151

7

45

14

10

113

8

60

Justin Braun

152

7

44

1

16

65

0

84

Oscar Klefbom

153

7

42

3

9

125

5

30


Kadri’s 24 points in 45 games only puts him on pace for 43 by the end of the season, a 17-point drop from his totals from last year. And while he’s getting about the same amount of power play points, both his hits and shots on goal totals have fallen a bit. Kadri’s still on pace to break 100 hits but with only 113 shots in 45 games, Kadri’s on pace to just barely break 200. And this doesn’t even take into account his penalty minutes, as he only has 25 through 45 games. On pace for just 45 penalty minutes, last year he had over 90, and the year before that he had over 70. His value is only further decreased if we consider leagues that count penalty minutes.

Kadri’s peripherals in general aren’t bad, but their decline combined with his immense drop in points has led Kadri to fall out of the top 150 valuable fantasy skaters, down from when he was ranked 36th best just last year. Drafted on average 113th overall in Fantrax leagues, he has less points than Derick Brassard (drafted on average 420th overall) and less value than Adam Larsson (who only has five points on the year). Hopefully he’ll be able to turn it around in the second half of the season but Kadri’s underperformance has not gone unnoticed in fantasy circles.

One Comment

  1. Joe Carr 2018-01-21 at 13:47

    when you see a drop off like this, the suspicion is that the guy is playing hurt. He is also, seemingly, always have a tough defensive assignment so that hinders his offensive numbers I’d imagine.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Oct 07 - 17:10 FLA vs CHI
Oct 07 - 20:10 NYR vs PIT
Oct 07 - 22:10 L.A vs COL

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
JACKSON BLAKE CAR
BRADY TKACHUK OTT
AUSTON MATTHEWS TOR
RYAN DONATO CHI
JAKE GUENTZEL T.B

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
CARTER HART
ILYA SOROKIN NYI
FILIP GUSTAVSSON MIN
JEREMY SWAYMAN BOS
JET GREAVES CBJ

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency OTT Players
23.0 SHANE PINTO RIDLY GREIG MICHAEL AMADIO
20.4 BRADY TKACHUK TIM STUTZLE CLAUDE GIROUX
15.8 DAVID PERRON DYLAN COZENS DRAKE BATHERSON

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson: Because It’s the KKUPFL, Season 11

Elan and Brian reveal a key change for Season 11 of the Keeping Karlsson Ultimate Patron Fantasy League (KKUPFL), the world’s top fantasy hockey league. They also share and consider feedback from Season 10 managers, responding with tips and thoughts on fantasy hockey league building and philosophy.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Ottawa Senators with Alex Adams

Alex Adams of Sportsnet is here to report on the Ottawa Senators. Jesse and Victor interview Alex about returning pros Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, Ridly Greig, Fabian Zetterlund, Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Jordan Spence, Linus Ullmark, and Leevi Meralainen. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Washington Capitals Preview with Dan Holmi of Locked on Caps

Dan Holmi is here to report on the Washington Capitals. Jesse and Victor interview Dan about returning pros Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael, Ryan Leonard, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun, Rasmus Sandin, Logan Thompson, and Charlie Lindgren. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down Garin Bjorklund.  […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: