It took seven seasons and 371 games, all with the Toronto Maple Leafs, for Nazem Kadri to score 100 NHL goals. (And then 101!)
One hundred goals is an achievement for any NHL player - and giving the Leafs’ very rookie-centric roster, rare on this current edition. James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak are the only other Leafs to have 100 career goals, and they’re both approaching 500 games.
There’s something about Kadri’s milestone, though. Van Riemsdyk was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, and scored 47 goals for them; he only hit 100 goals with the Leafs back in December, but he wasn’t a homegrown talent.
Bozak was, but he was undrafted.
The Leafs picked Kadri seventh overall back in 2009 - and now, he’s one of the few drafted Leafs to have hit 100 goals for them. Via the Elias Sports Bureau:
He is only the fourth player drafted by the Maple Leafs since 1988 to score at least 100 goals for the club. The others are Sergei Berezin (126 goals), Nik Antropov (125) and Alexei Ponikarovsky (114).
That’s... kind of a depressing list.
Then again, the future is bright, largely in part due to those aforementioned rookies, many of whom were recently drafted - and it wouldn’t be surprising to see, say, Auston Matthews be the next to join Kadri on the list.