Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Alexander Kerfoot (Good) and Cody Ceci (Questionable)

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a couple of big trades this past weekend.

On Monday of the holiday weekend, the Toronto Maple Leafs sent Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown to the Ottawa Senators for Cody Ceci, a couple of AHL guys who likely won’t ever dress for the Leafs, and a third round pick.

No one knows what the Senators were thinking.

Later that day, the Leafs sent Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a third round pick to the Avalanche for Tyson Barrie, Alexander Kerfoot and a sixth round pick.

They had two thirds, thanks to Ottawa who should never have had to sweeten an already sweet pot, and Rosen was signed as a UFA two years ago, so the trade looks even better because it was basically Kadri + found money for three assets.

Today, two of the recently acquired players have signed contracts.

Ceci and Kerfoot

Signing Alexander Kerfoot to a contract with just a $3.5 million cap hit is an absolutely fantastic team friendly move.  Kerfoot has racked up over 40 points while playing at an elite level without the puck.  He has upside, and at that price, even if he doesn’t hit it, it’s hardly a big deal.

Ron Hainsey and Connor Brown combined to make $5.5 million last year.

This year, Kerfoot and Barrie will combine to make $6 million.

That is quite the upgrade for less than 1% of the salary cap.

On the other hand, we have Cody Ceci.

The stats say he isn’t a good player.  They also so that you are what you are by the age of 25.  They also tell us that he isn’t a top four player, and that you should never spend money on a player that will play at the bottom of your lineup.

Given that the Toronto Maple Leafs no-doubt know all of this (as opposed to, say, the Canucks, who clearly don’t) it’s interesting to wonder why they are bothering.

Perhaps they see something in his usage, talent or game that suggests he will be the rare Jose Bautista-like player to emerge in his mid to late twenties.

Teams don’t give out this type of information – the Leafs probably aren’t going hold a press conference later and spell out their reasoning.

But then again, I heard earlier (and I don’t know if it was accurate) that the Leafs were front-loading this one-year contract with maximum signing bonus money.  If that is true, then what they have is essentially a free player another team can get whose only downside is his cap hit.

Is there another NHL team that would take a free player, who is right handed and has high-draft slot pedigree?  Are you kidding me? Some dumb team would probably give the Leafs a first-rounder for that type of player.  (I don’t even know if I’m kidding.  I think Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Ottawa, Long Island and Minnesota could improve their teams if they let replaced their GMs with the first guy they see this morning out on the street).

Bottom line:  the Kerfoot deal is pretty damn team friendly, while the Ceci deal is confusing based on the Leafs overall philosophy.

Assuming the Toronto Maple Leafs keep him, and assuming he’ll be a bottom pairing defenseman once Dermott comes back (tough assumption with Babcock in charge) then this shouldn’t be too bad.

Your bottom pairing guys don’t really affect the game much, and if someone beats him out for a job, that player almost certainly has a league min/ ELC cap-hit that means you can bench or trade Ceci no problems.

Overall, it’s shaping up to be a pretty good summer for the Leafs.  All that’s left is to sign Mitch Marner and Jake Gardiner (which would mean they flip Ceci).