Toronto Maple Leafs Forward Grades 2019-20 Regular Season

Alex Kerfoot

Alex Kerfoot was acquired from the Avalanche last summer in a trade that I would say worked out pretty good for the Leafs, despite the opposite public perception.

Nazem Kadri had an awesome year in Colorado, and since he’s an awesome player, who would expect anything else?

The thing is though, Kadri’s best strength is scoring, and he’s a centre.  On the Leafs he can’t get the touches to truly take advantage of his scoring talent, so it makes sense to swap him for a player who provides value in a different way.

Coming off a year in which he was statistically the best defensive player in the NHL, Kerfoot was the Leafs best defensive forward by a mile.  He was versatile, and made a great LW on a line with Tavares, while also being arguably the NHL’s best 3rd line centre as well.

Kerfoot was worth 1.4 WAR (WAR Stats and contract info from @jfresh player cards) and scored at the same 5v5 rate as John Tavares on a per minute basis. (All other stats from naturalstattrick.com).

Kerfoot may not have scored as much as Kadri, but he provided the Leafs with defense and versatility, two areas of weakness.  He is also younger and much cheaper.

Kerfoot finished with 9 goals, 28 points in 65 games.  He had a 53% CF and a 52% Expected goals rating (all stats naturalstattrick.com).