No. 2: Leafs Acquire Consistent 20-Goal Scorer
The Trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Kyle Palmieri ($4.65M)
- New Jersey Devils acquire: Alex Kerfoot ($3.5M)
- Notes: *New Jersey retains 50 percent of contract*
The former 26th overall selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft could be the extra depth scoring that Toronto needs. The one issue is that he’s primarily a right-winger and those top two spots belong to Mitch Marner and William Nylander, but he’s played centre and left-wing before in his career.
If you thought the Buffalo Sabres were bad, just look at the New Jersey Devils roster. Palmieri has a No-Move-Clause in his contract, but you’d have to think he’d waive it to go to a contending roster immediately.
Since the 2015-16 season, Palmieri has scored at least 24 goals every season. That’s even more impressive given the fact that he’s been buried in New Jersey with a terrible roster. He’s one of the brightest spots of the team, but is a pending UFA, so the team would most likely lose him for free anyway.
Palmieri has a great shot, which is way he’s such a good goal-scorer. Not only that, but he’s been a huge contributor on the power-play over the past few seasons.
Obviously this trade package would send Kerfoot to New Jersey, but it would give the Leafs another legitimate scoring option. If the big-gun’s aren’t firing, Palmieri should be a player that this team could rely on to score.
He’s relatively small (5-foot-11, 185 pounds), but he plays big. He’s not afraid to fight when he’s called upon and can play with an edge. The Leafs need more team toughness and that’s exactly what he can bring to the dressing room. So although Toronto would be getting a goal-scorer, they’d also get a player who will stick up for any teammate, which is a great guy to have come playoff time.