It’s amazing how quickly the perception of a player can change.
Last summer, everyone was extremely high on Calle Jarnkrok following his career best 20 goal, 39 point campaign. They were over the moon with the winger’s performance in his first year as a Maple Leaf. In fact, people were losing their minds over his name even being floated out there in trade rumours.
Fast forward to the present day where collectively, Leafs Nation seems to have soured big-time on the 32-year-old forward. To be honest, it’s probably because Jarnkrok failed to register a point in Toronto’s seven game series against Boston.
And considering the franchise’s shortcomings in the postseason in recent memory, that will certainly do it.
This is sheer speculation on my part, but there’s no way Jarnkrok was even close to remotely healthy for that series. In general, the second half of his year was just littered with injury problems. At the end of the day, you have to produce and he didn’t, so I get the frustration.
That said, Jarnkrok still has two years left on his deal at $2.1 million per season, and ultimately, that still should be viewed as a bargain average annual value. He’s a good player, and without question, he could be poised for a strong bounce-back season.
All in all, it will be fascinating to see how he’s deployed under Craig Berube. Sheldon Keefe was a massive Calle Jarnkrok guy —there’s no doubt about that. Effectively, he was teacher’s pet.
In the grand scheme of things, a championship roster probably has Jarnkrok rostered somewhere in the bottom-six. In 2023-24, he spent a lot of time with the big boys. It always seemed like Jarnkrok gained the first promotion up the lineup when Keefe was looking for a jolt. I’m not sure it will be the same under Berube.
In a perfect world, I would love Jarnkrok on the fourth line to kick off a playoff series. He’s the type of player that can make a massive difference in that type of role. Having said that, the Leafs don’t possess the depth necessary to make that a reality right now. Instead, he will probably float around a bit until the team establishes an identity.
Mark my words: He will prove to be a useful player next season. I can’t wait until the narrative changes again on him.
