Toronto Maple Leafs: Reviewing the Calle Jarnkrok Signing

The Toronto Maple Leafs decision to add Calle Jarnkrok to their roster this summer is a little bit of a head-scratcher, especially considering his cap hit.

While it’s great to see the Toronto Maple Leafs adding another versatile depth signing that should fit alongside David Kampf on the team’s third line, a four-year contract paying $2.1 million a year until he’s 34 seems risky on the surface, but all that term actually makes sense.

By giving Jarnkrok a four year guaranteed contract, he takes less money in every year.  This year’s cap hit is important to get low, but it won’t matter so much later, and if it does, or if Jarnkrok declines, it will be easy to move or bury.

On its’ own it’s possible to see the deal as the perfect trade-off should Alex Kerfoot depart the team this summer; he offers similar ability to play all three forward positions after all.

However, all the time both players remain on the roster, it feels almost a frivolous deal, but clearly the team employs long term planning and has some idea of what they want to do next. Just because we don’t yet know what that moves is doesn’t make this a bad move.  But it does make it a curious one.

How Will Calle Jarnkrok Fit With the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Calle Jarnkrok has proven a consistent performer during his time with the Nashville Predators and his single-season with the Seattle Kraken.

Unfortunately for the Calgary Flames, who spent a 2022 second round pick, a 2023 third round pick and a 2024 seventh round pick on acquiring Jarnkrok, he failed to live up to his previous standards.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will absolutely be hoping that his under-performance with the Flames was a flash-in-the-pan as opposed to a sign of a longer-term decline.

Perhaps the most obvious spot on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster is as a possible winger on the team’s second line should Kerfoot depart, though Nick Robertson would also be hoping to steal the march on him there.

In fact, the more likely place he finds himself lining up is alongside Pierre Engvall and David Kampf on the third line, regardless of whether Kerfoot stays or goes.

That trio would certainly be a group that couldn’t easily be shrugged off, with Calle Jarnkrok a strong defensive performer, playing a forechecking game that belies his size, keeping his feet moving and the pressure on when in the offensive zone.

He will easily fit in on a penalty-kill that saw Ilya Mikheyev and Colin Blackwell depart this summer, so again there’s a strong fit in Toronto there.

In all reality, this deal remains a head-scratcher until further roster changes shake out. If indeed, Alex Kerfoot also departs this summer, this is an absolutely vital deal in terms of keeping some level of consistency to the penalty-kill and offering options on the second or third line.

If there aren’t any changes, you really have to wonder why the Toronto Maple Leafs pursued a four-year deal for Calle Jarnkrok.

If Jarnkrok can produce as he historically has for the Leafs, he will prove a very good secondary scoring and penalty-killing option for the team at a relatively low price.