No. 3: Alex Kerfoot
At $3.5M, Kerfoot showed Leafs Nation that he’s a valuable swiss-army knife who can play anywhere in the line-up and play with anyone.
Although he seemed to be everywhere on the ice, he only had two points in seven games this playoff series. That’s not enough production for a player who makes $3.5M, and especially for a player who finds himself on the third or fourth line some nights.
As an expiring contract, at only $3.5M, Kerfoot will be an attractive trade-piece, so the Leafs shouldn’t have an issue getting rid of him. If you think they’ll need to fill a huge hole in his absence, Nick Robertson should easily be able to fill that void as he’s ready for the NHL.
Also, the Leafs have continued to find value contracts over the past few years, so there’s no reason to believe that they can find another Michael Bunting in Free Agency, or someone like that.
Kerfoot has been a nice piece over the years, but he’ll always be compared to Nazem Kadri, which doesn’t help, so it’s time to move on.