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“There’s more to this, obviously,” Shanahan said, ominously, declining to go into further details. But he did allow that Kadri, a 24-year-old in his third full season in the NHL who happens to be by far his team’s most offensively gifted centre, was guilty of certain “incidents” — note the plural — and that the tough punishment was plainly an effort to shock the player into better behaviour.

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Which is disappointing to Joe Colborne. The two pals and former Toronto Marlies teammates always make an effort to meet up when they cross paths on the National Hockey League circuit.

But because of off-ice issues — most recently, a late appearance at a team meeting — Leafs president Brendan Shanahan announced that Kadri would not be playing Friday’s road game against the Calgary Flames, and also missed Wednesday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres. It was undetermined as of Wednesday if Kadri would travel with the Leafs to Calgary after their skate in Toronto on Thursday.

“I love Naz,” Colborne said. “He’s a very good friend of mine. You don’t wish that (situation) on anyone. I think it’s a case of the Toronto media looking for something, anything, to talk about other than the way the team has been playing.

“It just seems like they love to latch on to the extra curricular stuff. Whether it’s warranted or not, I’m not sure what the whole situation is.”

Kadri was healthy scratch against the New York Islanders on Monday, but had apologized to teammates and coaches for what he called an “uncharacteristic” mistake.