Calle Jarnkrok is on his way out of the NHL after spending four years playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's had an incredible journey back from missing years of time due to injury, leading him to being mostly healthy through all of last season. It really is an accomplishment.
Now, the 34-year-old forward who has over 700 games under his belt, has signed with SHL team Brynas, where he played his junior hockey, and will see out his twilight years back home. But before that, he had to have a couple of parting words about his last experience in the NHL and just how miserable it was playing for a certain person.
Jarnkrok had a recent interview with Swedish outlet Hockey Sverige, and while he had some lovely words for playing in Toronto, he also had to let out his feelings about playing for Craig Berube.
“Two years ago, I couldn’t play at all. But last year, I came in and felt in really good shape. I scored goals… and then he (Craig Berube) put me in the stands. It was a little weird. At that moment, I was very surprised… I did well but wasn’t allowed to play. It was tough to motivate myself and keep going," Jarnkrok said.
"But it was a lot of fun playing in Toronto, even though the last year wasn’t that fun. The whole city loves hockey.”
Craig Berube might have ruined Jarnkrok's time in Toronto
While Jarnkrok did lace up for 56 games last season, he was a healthy scratch virtually every other time and saw his fair share of the press box. He clearly sees it as some injustice after working his tail off to get back into NHL playing shape and hoping for a massive year where he realistically could have had a great opportunity in the Leafs' bottom-six forward group.
But, instead of that, he was just up in the stands for way more than he would have liked.
Even when Jarnkrok was playing, he was barely getting the same opportunities he did earlier in his Toronto tenure. He averaged just 11:50 time-on-ice, the lowest in his 13-year career and he didn't even reach close to that mark since his second year in the league. It's an unfortunate turn for someone who was projected to be a solid depth contributor for the Leafs.
Jarnkrok's time with the Leafs started so well. he scored 20 goals and 39 points in 73 games on that 2022-23 Leafs team that finished with a 50-21-11 record led by Sheldon Keefe (and then got brutally beaten in five games by the Florida Panthers). That got shrunk to just 10 goals and 21 points in 52 games the next season, and then the groin and sports hernia injury got to him and restricted him to just 19 games during the 2024-25 season and Berube's first as head coach.
Now, both the player and the coach are no longer in Toronto but one clearly feels more strongly about his time in Toronto than the other.
Add us as a preferred source on Google