Rumors are starting to swirl around the Toronto Maple Leafs as preseason games begin, including some involving Alex Kerfoot, whom a journalist has suggested could be traded for salary cap purposes.
The forward could have an instrumental role to play for the Leafs next season, yet the possibility of him getting traded still looms.
The team recently signing Zach Aston-Reese to a pro tryout has prompted The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel to question whether GM Kyle Dubus will trade the Canadian. In a column posing questions relating to the Leafs as they head into training camp, Siegel noted that Calle Jarnkrok, who was brought in as a free agent this offseason, could fill the role of playing alongside John Tavares and William Nylander on the team’s second line.
Aston-Reese has built a reputation as a good defensive forward and should end up playing on the third line along with David Kampf if he is signed.
Trading Kerfoot could free up as much as $3.5 million in cap space, allowing the Leafs to Sign Rasmus Sandin to a new deal. It would also leave them in a better place to pursue a trade for Patrick Kane.
The right winger has been linked to the Leafs for a while now and other NHL sides. Toronto would be able to pull one off closer to the trade deadline if a third team gets involved. It appears a move won’t happen unless the player wants to move due to a clause in his contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.
“With a full no-movement clause, Kane controls his fate for the coming season if he decides he wants to move on. So far, he’s not indicated his intentions,” Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News wrote recently.
“The only word is from Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson, who claims neither Kane nor Jonathan Toews has approached him with trade requests. According to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope, the pair are “excited to get to training camp and see how the season plays out.”
Richardson would also write,
“That means trading Kane (if it happens at all) likely takes place closer to the 2023 trade deadline than the start of the coming season. His $10.5-million salary-cap hit will also be difficult to move unless the Blackhawks retain half. Even then, an interested party could attempt to get a third team involved to spread the remaining cap hit around.”
In any case, the Leafs are the second favorites to win the Stanley Cup at 8/1, only behind the 17/4 Colorado Avalanche. Toronto fans have plenty of betting options, with sites such as BetMGM Ontario offering some of the most competitive odds on NHL futures.
The Florida Panthers are right behind the Leafs in bookmaker favorites at +900, while the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes are +1000 and +1100, respectively. The Leafs don’t have to do anything until Sanding signs a new contract.
“Why trade Holl if you haven’t signed Sandin? Why trade Holl until you know you’ve gotten through training camp injury-free? The Leafs could sign Sandin for $900,000, keep Holl, and roll out an 11 forwards, seven defencemen attack if they wanted to,” Siegel writes.
“For what it’s worth: I don’t love the idea of getting rid of Holl. He’s a good part, especially on the penalty kill, for a thin team on the right side. He performed pretty well in each of the last two postseasons. Short of dealing with Kerfoot, however, I don’t see another option. Maybe AGM Brandon Pridham has an ace up his sleeve.”
The question of who plays with Tavarez is a very important one too. The Leafs captain mostly started games with Kerfoot and Ilya Mikheyev but ended with Kerfoot and Nylander. This was part of an attempt from the coaching staff to fix the team’s shaky second-half performances.
It will be interesting to see how head coach Sheldon Keefe handles this next season. He has the option of fielding Tavares, Kerfoot, and Nylander as he would usually and see if it yields positive results.
He can also move Jarnkrok into Kerfoot’s spot and play the latter defensively alongside Kampf or play Nylander elsewhere. There’s also the option of reshuffling the top line featuring Auston Mathews, Mitch Warner, and Michael Bunting, though they were highly productive together last season.
