After repeated first-round playoff failures Toronto pursued roster changes and focused on Nazem Kadri because of playoff suspensions and looming cap pressure. Kadri was traded to Colorado for offensive defenseman Tyson Barrie, center Alex Kerfoot, and additional pieces. The swap initially appeared sensible since Barrie provided scoring from the blue line and Kerfoot looked like a potential third-line center. Over six years the trade shifted momentum: Kadri became a reliable playoff contributor for Colorado while Barrie's eventual retirement and Kerfoot's limited replacement of Kadri weakened Toronto down the middle. The trade helped set divergent trajectories for the two clubs.
There aren't many trades that happen in the NHL that sets one team up for failure and the other for regular Stanley Cup contention for a few years. Maybe the closest we get to that is the Matthew Tkachuk trade that almost immediately started this quasi dyansty the Florida Panthers are in the middle of right now. But one other trade in recent memory is almost certainly a trade that happened between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche.
After another embarrassing playoff defeat in the first round, the Maple Leafs -- led by Kyle Dubas -- were slightly panicking. Trying to find a reason why they keep on losing other than bad luck and not addressing their scoring issues, they narrowed in on center Nazem Kadri getting suspended at extremely inopportune times. Kadri's multiple suspensions in the playoffs left a sour taste in some people's mouths.
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