When he can win closer to half of his faceoffs against top-line centres.
Kadri has succeeded on the back of being sheltered by great team depth. He is the first Leafs prospect who is handled legitimately in the style of the Detroit Red Wings development process. Lots of AHL seasoning, and then sheltered by great NHL depth.
Can we just be happy that we're finally following a successful template for developing players?
Let's hoard all of the depth we can at all positions. It's how we're 7th in the league in point %.
The Leafs really are mimicking the organisation with the most success in the past 20 years.
You can really observe the linematching in the spread between the highest rated (Fraser, +17) and lowest (Phaneuf, -10) +/-.
This isn't to say that Nasty Naz's success isn't his own. Everyone he plays with have seen their game elevated. He's one of the most rawly talented, creative and shifty centres in the game. We've always known that. But he's done it with the 10th highest, and negative, Corsi Relative QoC of Toronto forwards. (Nik Kulyomin faces the best) So he is doing it against markedly inferior players. And this is why we win: we can throw Nazem Kadri against 2nd pairing defencemen and 3rd forward line players. .