TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs practiced in Toronto on Wednesday ahead of Thursday night's game in Buffalo.

  • Nazem Kadri is 26 years old and has played 336 NHL games, but Mike Babcock believes he has yet to reach his potential. "He's a guy we expect to get better," the Leafs head coach said after Wednesday's practice. "He's got a lot of growth and development in front of him and he's getting better." Babcock asked Kadri to work on improving his shot over the summer and the coach believes only minimal progress has been made. "It has got to improve a lot more," Babcock said. "He scores from in tight, but why not expand on that?"
  • While Kadri's ice time has decreased this season (15:25 versus 18:16 last season), Babcock has continued to employ him as the matchup centre, which means tough assignments each and every night. "He hasn't been great in every game this year at all, but he's made some strides," Babcock said. "It appears like when he has a job he's better and more focused and I thought he was good last night." Kadri agreed that the matchup responsibility suits his personality. "Obviously, playing against top guys, I think brings out the best in you just because you got to show up or get shown up so you got to be ready every single shift or else you're going to get embarrassed."
  • During an interview at the first intermission on Tuesday night, Morgan Rielly described Kadri as "a rat." It's not the first time he's called him that and he means it in a positive way. For his part, Kadri is fine with that description. "I guess that's a compliment these days," he said with a chuckle. "Just trying to get under the skin of opposing teams and doing everything you can to do that." Kadri's teammates enjoyed seeing him agitate Connor McDavid Tuesday night. "It's pretty motivating to watch," said Mitch Marner. "We all get pretty jacked up seeing him do that kind of stuff. I think a lot of people don't really understand how good he is at defence."
  • Last season, Kadri was fined for diving, which earned him a public rebuke from the NHL. Tuesday night, Kadri was once again whistled for embellishment and, much like last season, he took issue with the call. "I didn't really agree with that one too much, but the referees have a hard enough job as it is," he said. "I'm not out there trying to do their job. I'm just worried about my job. Whether it gets called or not, I'm just trying to move my feet. Nothing in my game changes."
  • Babcock raised eyebrows during his post-game news conference last night when he suggested McDavid ran out of gas, because Oilers coach Todd McLellan played him too much. McDavid logged 22:46 of ice time while the top Leafs forward, Zach Hyman, came in at 19:45. "You jam a guy out there every shift and three in a row, stuff like that, hard to have the same pop," Babcock noted last night. After practice Wednesday, the coach was asked about his personal philosophy on allotting ice time. "I just felt, for us last night and what I tried to say was, when I saw he had eight [minutes played in the first period] and Kadri only had five ... you go, 'Yeah! That's great,' because sometimes, I've done it with [Henrik] Zetterberg and [Pavel] Datsyuk before, in the first period you have a couple power plays and then you look down at your minutes and they're so high you're going, 'Oof!' Now you're managing their game and I think that's hard." Babcock wasn't the only one surprised that McDavid played so much. "He was out there a fair bit," said Kadri. "I think he played like 22 or 23 minutes and for a forward that's pretty outrageous. I guess that's what they got to do."
  • Auston Matthews is excited to return to Buffalo and play in the building where he was drafted in June. "That was a big step and a dream come true so Buffalo and the First Niagara Center will always have a special place in your heart," he said. "The guys were saying there's usually a pretty good crowd and a lot of Leafs fans go."
  • The Leafs are fourth in the league in blocked shots, but Babcock wasn't happy with the effort in that regard last night against the Oilers. "I think their D had 22 shots or something like that so that will be a focus tomorrow," Babcock said. "We have to do a better job in that area."
  • Having played five games in eight nights, the Leafs held a brief 25-minute practice Wednesday and did not run lines.