Lamoriello lauds Kadri but admits he's not a No. 1 center
The valuation explains as much, but Lou Lamoriello ain't afraid to come out and say it, either.
Hours after signing Nazem Kadri to a six-year contract extension worth $4.5 million annually, the Maple Leafs GM admitted on Toronto radio that the club doesn't envision the 25-year-old, though still highly coveted, as their No. 1 center down the line.
"In my opinion he's not a first-line center, but he's a center that can handle every situation that's asked of him," Lamoriello told Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "Mike (Babcock) kept giving him more and more (responsibility) and he accepted it and he thrived in it."
He added: "What I see in Kadri is the type of player that I personally want on my team. I want him in a seventh game of the Stanley Cup. I want him out there when the game is on the line because he brings everything and leaves (it all on the ice)."
The swiftness to which Kadri agreed to terms suggests that he's of the same mind. But based on comments from Kadri and Morgan Rielly, who also signed a six-year deal Wednesday, they were more than willing to make concessions to be a part of what the Maple Leafs are building.
Rielly even went as far as admitting his camp "didn't put up much of a fight."