Kerfoot Thriving With Maple Leafs – But For How Long?

When Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot scored in the Buds’ 6-2 win over Seattle Monday, there was a sense of good timing coming against a team that was rumored to be interested in him in the NHL’s expansion draft last summer. The goal ended Kerfoot’s 12-game goalless streak, but more importantly, it gave confidence to a player who can be a difference-maker in a relatively limited role.

Since Kerfoot was acquired from Colorado in 2019, he has been a solid contributor, but this year, he’s ratcheted up his game, and it shows in his individual numbers: with seven goals and 25 assists in 46 games, he’s well on his way to set new career highs in assists (27) and points (43), both of which were set in his first two NHL seasons, as part of an emerging Avalanche group. Right now, Seattle could certainly use a player as versatile as Kerfoot, who gives you energy and craftiness on any forward line.

Unfortunately for him, Kerfoot is sometimes judged in comparison to the player he was traded for – center Nazem Kadri, who currently is rampaging through the league and already has broken his personal individual career numbers, just halfway through this regular season. Because their salaries are roughly in the same range – Kerfoot earns $3.5 million per season and is signed through the 2022-23 campaign, while Kadri is in the final year of earning $4.5 million, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer – there have been similar expectations for Kerfoot in Toronto, and with all of Kadri’s successes this season, some fans yearn to have Kadri back in Blue and White.

That view doesn’t take into account the circumstances that led to the Kadri/Kerfoot deal. The Leafs were disappointed in Kadri’s poor judgment as a player – specifically, his supplemental discipline issues pushed him to the point of no return – and as a salary cap-challenged team, Toronto was able to use the money saved in the trade to deepen their roster in other areas. You can say that extra $1 million was used on a low-risk, high-reward forward like winger Ondrej Kase, who has been a smash hit in his first year as a Leaf, and at the low cost of $1.25 million. Would you rather have two players, in Kerfoot and Kase, who can augment the Leafs’ core of top talent, or would you prefer only Kadri?

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Sure, it’s easy to argue you’d choose Kadri over Kerfoot this season, but don’t kid yourself – the Leafs are almost as offensively dynamic as Colorado is, and it would’ve been unlikely he’d be playing higher up in the lineup, instead being the third-line center that Toronto now has in David Kampf (and his bargain-rate $1.5 million salary). And his past transgressions on the ice would have haunted Kadri in Toronto until he and his teammates found a way to get past the first round of the playoffs. Really, moving Kadri became necessary, for both monetary and team reasons. And now, in the peace and quiet of Denver, Kadri has become the all-around threat the Leafs envisioned when they drafted him seventh overall in 2009.

Despite his successes this year, Kadri finds himself in a situation that would’ve been similar had he remained a Leaf. The Avs are going to be hard-pressed to re-sign him this summer, just as Toronto would’ve been if he were still with the Buds. More than a few teams seeking offense and edge will be lining up to make bids for his services, but Toronto won’t be one of them.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Kerfoot is under Leafs control for one more year, and he’ll likely be a fixture on the second or third line for the foreseeable future. His salary may prove too luxurious for Toronto next season, but for now, he’s doing what is needed of him – providing secondary scoring and making life hard on the opposition’s defense.

That’s what the Leafs acquired Kerfoot for. And scoring against the Kraken – who could’ve taken him in the expansion draft – is a nice personal reward for him. Toronto needs him to be just as effective come playoff time.