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The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to find bargains on the free agent market on Friday, signing veteran forward Calle Jarnkrok to a four-year, $8.4 million contract. Originally a Detroit draft pick in 2010, the 30-year-old spent eight seasons with the Nashville Predators before being claimed in the expansion draft by Seattle.
Jarnkrok was traded to Calgary at the deadline for three draft picks and played mostly on the Flames checking line in the playoffs, finishing the campaign with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) in 66 games.
He is known for his consistency and two-way ability, as well as his ability to play all three forward positions and as a penalty killer, and has shown remarkable consistency offensively, with seven straight seasons with double figures in goals, and has a connection to Leafs GM Kyle Dubas going back to his days as an agent.
The veteran forward appears to be Toronto’s answer to replacing Ilya Mikheyev (who signed a four-year, $19 million contract with Vancouver) and Ondrej Kase (who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with Carolina) as someone who likely slots in the mix on the third line with David Kampf and Pierre Engvall, but someone who could move up in the line when necessary.
The issue at hand is that Toronto does not have a viable replacement for Kerfoot on the left side of the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander, unless they believe that Nick Robertson is ready to take that spot or are willing to wait until the end of the NCAA campaign to get prospect Matthew Knies in the mix.