Alex Kerfoot has come to terms to sign a contract with the Arizona Coyotes. Kerfoot brings many intangibles to his game and can be relied on in tight games. He has spent the past four years playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The contract is for two years with an average cap hit of $3.5 million per season.
Kerfoot to Arizona – 7M two years – 3.5AAV
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 1, 2023
Alex Kerfoot Signs Contract
One important aspect of Kerfoot’s game is he can slot in at least three if not all four lines. This claim is supported by his 51 points in 82 games during the 2021-22 campaign. Over the past two years, in particular, he has primarily played a more defensive role. His defensive zone start % (dZS%) was 54.6 and 58.6, respectively. In general, that is pretty impressive when you consider scoring 50+ points in a primarily defensive role. However, it is all not shining stars for Kerfoot. He has struggled a bit in one statistic, Corsi. For instance, his CF% Rel was -9.1 in 2021-22, but he did improve upon that last year, at -1.9.
What this Means for the *
Having a guy like Alex Kerfoot to sign a contract on your roster you are getting a couple of guarantees in the reliability checkbox. You know he can handle the pressure of the big city lights having been in The Big Smoke. Also, he shows that he is durable, having not missed a game over his last three seasons. He has missed fewer than 15 games in the NHL since making his debut in 2017-18. Another interesting point about Kerfoot is he is a bit of a playoff presence. To that point, he has appeared in the post-season in each of his first six NHL campaigns. His average ice time over that period was 15:06. Anytime you can have that amount of impact, you know you are deserving of any opportunity thrown your way.
Main photo by: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
