TORONTO — Alexander Kerfoot’s adjustment to life inside a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater had its hurdles before that sweater was even stitched up.
He couldn’t wear his old Colorado Avalanche number, 13. That one was hanging from the rafters under the surname Sundin. Nor could he go back to his old Harvard number, 14. No, that belongs till infinity to some guy named Keon.
Wearing Patrick Marleau’s recently vacated No. 12 felt awkward at best, disrespectful at worst. Sixteen, 18, 19 were already scooped by current players. Seventeen is Wendel Clark forever.
“Have you seen in there? It’s like every number is retired,” Kerfoot chuckled one day at training camp. “There are a lot of retired jerseys. This organization has been around a long time. They gave me a few different low-numbered options, and 15 was kinda close to what I’d been using.”
He shrugged and smiled.
Just a guy doing his best to find where he fits.
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Kerfoot’s central role in Tuesday’s 3-1 Leafs’ victory over the Los Angeles Kings stands as a microcosm of the third-line centre’s brief tenure in Toronto — where, at a very reasonable $3.5-million salary, he should remain through 2022-23.
Some good, some bad, and some grease.
“He’s a feisty little bugger. He skates well. He checks hard. I feel like he’s always mixing it up, and he’s got a nice scoring touch too,” said ex-King Jake Muzzin, who’d tossed a chunk of money on the board against his former club.
“I like his game.”
Some bad: Kerfoot committed another minor penalty (his third in his past four outings) and was forced to watch from the box as L.A.’s Alex Iafallo opened the scoring. With 16 PIMs, a two-way forward who prides himself on decision-making is on track to crush his career high.
“I just got to clean that up. It’s been brutal, taking way too many penalties — and away from the puck, too,” Kerfoot said post-game. “So I wasn’t feeling great after that.”
Some good: He pounced on a broken play, cut up middle ice and lasered a pretty, knee-down, top-shelf puck past Jonathan Quick to tie the game. He now has five goals on the season. He didn’t reach that mark until Dec. 22 last season.
“Getting back out there and having some good shifts felt good,” he said.
Some grease: Kerfoot was caught with his head down in the first period and got crunched something nasty by Jeff Carter. The collision jostled his jaw and prompted a spotter to tap him for concussion protocol.
“They’re trying to protect the players,” Kerfoot said. “In the heat of the moment, you never want to have to miss time on the ice, but it’s good that the league’s doing that and holding guys accountable.”
Kerfoot returned undeterred. Along with the goal, he had three takeaways, went 64 per cent in the faceoff circle (as a first-time NHL centre, the first stat he checks on the sheet), and his line controlled 53 per cent of shot attempts despite getting just a single offensive-zone start.
“He’s greasy, he’s competitive, he knows how to play, he’s just going to get better and better,” coach Mike Babcock said. “We can have an unbelievable line there with [Ilya Mikheyev] and [Kasperi Kapanen] once we get it organized and they get to know each other and feel good.
“The better that line plays, and the more speed and tenacity they play with, the better we’re going to be as a hockey club.”
Kerfoot hasn’t played middle ice since his Harvard days, but he’s a heady, responsible player who has picked up systems and relearned his former position swiftly.
“He’s just continued to get better and better throughout the season, throughout training camp, and more comfortable,” says Auston Matthews. “It’s tough. You’re coming to new team, new faces and just kind of getting adjusted to our system and stuff like that, but obviously he’s been great for us so far.”
Assistant coach Paul McFarland has been investing extra time getting Nazem Kadri’s replacement up to speed on faceoffs, the aspect of his game that needs the most polish, and Kerfoot is adjusting nicely to the demands of his new head coach.
“Playing with [Jared Bednar] for two years, I loved it. He was really good, pretty level-headed, pretty calm on the bench at all times,” Kerfoot explained.
“The pace here is a little different. Babs is obviously very detailed, very organized. Some of the coaching tendencies and the way he likes to play the game, it’s just getting used to it. Every day when you’re here, you’re on, whether it’s a pre-game skate, practice, game, he wants it to be fast-paced, up-tempo. That’s good. It translates, hopefully, to success on the ice.”
So far, so good for the Leafs’ fresh-look third unit, which features a rejuvenated Kapanen (looking much more at ease on his proper right wing) and one of the league’s top rookies in Mikheyev.
It’s five-foot-10 Kerfoot at the centre of it all, and No. 15 has reached the point where he can now describe his Toronto transition as “super easy.”
“He’s been impressive. At the start,” Babcock says, “he was processing so much information, his feet didn’t move. But he’s got way more grease in him than I thought, way more grit. I think he can be a real important player for us.”
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November 06, 2019 at 12:54PM
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