It was three years ago — almost to the day — that the Maple Leafs put Nazem Kadri on notice.



Brendan Shanahan unexpectedly stepped in front of cameras and microphones that Monday morning in the spring of 2015 and publicly shamed the club’s 2009 first round pick. The Leafs weren’t suspending him just for being late for practice, Shanahan glumly explained ahead of a meaningless Mar. 9 game against the New York Islanders, but for a pattern of behaviour that would no longer be tolerated.



“I think those mistakes are the reason I am the man I am today,” recalled Kadri after potting a pair of goals in the Leafs 5-2 win over the two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday evening. “I think it’s made me a better person.”



A better person and a hugely important player for the Leafs, one who might not have lasted in Toronto were it not for that late-season blow-up — which saw Kadri, then only...