Carlyle pushes Kadri, Gardiner to improve

As part of Tuesday's interview with fired Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Scott Gordon via The Globe and Mail, he is asked about two youngsters on the team carrying a perceived rift with head coach Randy Carlyle.

Gordon on Nazem Kadri:

“He’s a good kid. I know that the media has a tendency to think that he has a hard time with Randy but just being in the office I know Randy knows how talented Nazzy is and he respects his abilities. He’s just trying to get him to be a more complete player – and it’s nothing more than that.”

Gordon on Jake Gardiner:

“There’s this perception that Randy doesn’t like Jake Gardiner, and it’s comical. I can’t tell you how many times that Randy has said that the thought of trading Jake can’t even be discussed until he’s played 300 games. He personally thinks it takes 300 games for a defenceman to get to the point where you can make a decision on them. Here’s somebody who knows there’s going to be growing pains. Is he hard on them? Does he take away ice time? Yes. All he’s trying to do is make them accountable and try to get them on the right path.

“It never gets played out in the media that that’s his approach; I never heard anybody talk about that. When you think about it, where Jake has come from, in his first year to now – to me, in the last 20 or so games, a lot of nights he was our best player. You can say what you want, but it’s Randy putting him over the boards for 20-plus minutes a game. He’s a talented kid. And it’s a lot because of Randy’s patience with him.

“Part of a maturity of a player is just understanding when to cut your losses. It doesn’t have to be a highlight reel play made every time.”

Also of particular interest in the article is Gordon noting the underrated importance of the presence of both Leo Komarov and Mark Fraser.

"... Those are two guys off the top of my head. Not just in the game, but how they practised, the tone that they set for our team with that style of play. We missed that."

Source: James Mirtle, Globe and Mail