Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen may have inadvertently just screwed the Leafs
The Seattle Kraken pulled off an absolute heist on Friday, sending a pair of draft picks (3rd and 4th round picks) to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for 27-year-old winger Oliver Bjorkstrand, who has 4 years remaining on his current deal, which carries a $5.4M cap hit.
The deal was a head-scratcher from the Blue Jackets' perspective, as the picks that they received in compensation for dealing Bjorkstrand were not even befitting a player of his caliber. Bjorkstrand is a 3-time 20-goal scorer, who hit the 28-goal mark last season, which is the highest in his career. He also tied a career high in assists with 29 and career-best 57 points.
If I was a GM, who happened to be trying to move a piece who produced at a similar rate and scored, say, 51 points last season, I'd probably be pretty upset with Jackets' GM Jarmo Kekalainen right about now. Because not only did Kekalainen fail to get fair value for a quality asset, but in doing so, he may have tanked the market value of other similar pieces - and yes, this could impact the Leafs.
In case you haven't guessed by now, the 51-point player who was not named is Alexander Kerfoot. The Leafs are currently over the cap by a little more than $1.4M, and with Rasmus Sandin still an RFA reportedly seeking a deal similar to that of Blue Jackets defenseman Adam Boqvist (3 years, $2.6M per season), Kerfoot may need to be moved for the Leafs to complete their roster.
Obviously, the Leafs are able to move Justin Holl to open up some space to sign Sandin, but even if they could talk Sandin down to accepting Holl's same $2M AAV, they'd still be more than $1.4M over the cap and will need to demote or waive two players to become cap compliant. Unless they're considering surprising everyone and moving Muzzin or Brodie, the Leafs are likely going to have to move Kerfoot at some point.
I don't think Dubas would have even considered moving Kerfoot for a 3rd and a 4th before the Bjorkstrand deal went through, but now he may have no other choice. He was probably never getting a 1st and he'll have a hell of a time getting a 2nd now, unless a team REALLY likes the fact that Kerfoot only costs $750K in real dollars or that he can also play center in a pinch. At this point, it seems more likely that Kerfoot nets a similar if not slightly lower return than Bjorkstrand.
This could certainly become the rare case of patience not paying off. But then again, it's also not Kyle Dubas' fault that another GM made an atrocious deal. We could yet see Dubas pull a rabbit out of his hat, but if he doesn't, we can thank Jarmo Kekalainen for his utter incompetence.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 23 | 590 ANSWERS Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen may have inadvertently just screwed the Leafs Did Jarmo Kekalainen unintentionally screw the Leafs with the Bjorkstrand trade to Seattle? | ||
| 100% | 180 | 30.5 % |
| How do we know it wasn't intentional? | 166 | 28.1 % |
| No, Dubas will figure it out | 244 | 41.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
