Toronto Maple Leafs acquire Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot in exchange for Nazem Kadri

The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired a right-handed top-four defenseman, but they have given up a big piece of their center depth and one of the best contracts on the team to do it. Nazem Kadri has been traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot, with Calle Rosen and a draft-pick swap also in the mix:

Big TOR-COL trade: Leafs get Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot and a 6th rd pick in 2020 from the Avs for Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and Toronto’s 3rd round selection in 2020. Colorado also retaining 50% of Barrie’s AAV ($5.5 million) as part of the transaction.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) July 1, 2019

Barrie — who Colorado retained on, keeping 50% of his $5.5 million cap hit for the upcoming season— is a puck-moving defenseman and power-play quarterback (third in the NHL in power play points among defensemen in the last two years). Alex Kerfoot will need a contract (currently an RFA) but is a quality if undersized middle-six forward with good speed and a good motor who can play both center and the wing.

The Leafs were facing down the prospect of Cody Ceci on their top-pair on the right side if they didn’t address this area of the depth chart in a big way — that alone would’ve torpedoed any Cup aspirations they might’ve had this season. This shoe had to drop, and it is a big one.

The Leafs’ defense is in an interesting situation now with no one but Morgan Rielly nailed down contractually past the season, but it is a mobile group of puck movers, to be sure. One imagines moving Ceci is still a possibility, but with Barrie added, he might be able to slot in more appropriately in a second/third-pair capacity for this season.

What Barrie is not is big or a defensively-sound shutdown defenseman, but he’s a high-end puck mover and puck rusher who plays his defense with the puck on his stick. The question mark is what happens after this season and whether the Leafs gave up a fantastic middle-six centerman on a fantastic contract for three more years in Kadri for one-year of Barrie. Knowing that, they simply had to get some asset-controlled scoring depth back and got it in Kerfoot, who is a capable player over 200 feet and could play center for the Leafs, albeit not in the matchup role Kadri can play.

The Leafs will have to sort out if it’s William Nylander, Jason Spezza or Kerfoot that will occupy that 3C scoring role, but those are all skilled options. With Tavares and Matthews in the mix, it was unlikely Kadri was going to play as important of a role as he did for years in Toronto — that is, the matchup assignment he relishes — because there just weren’t enough minutes to go around among their center group. As such, the Leafs are likely going to build more of a sheltered scoring line with their third unit as opposed to a diluted checking line.

What they have lost with Kadri gone — and to a lesser extent Zaitsev and Hainsey — is some of the only remaining jam on the roster and a player in Kadri who wanted to win a Cup in Toronto as much as anyone on the team, but Kyle Dubas is doing this his way. That much is now clear. The making of the team in Dubas’ image, from the draft class to the FA signings to this trade, is now clear for all to see: After a Cup Final between the Blues and Bruins that had much of the hockey world championing heavy hockey again, this is a Leafs team doubling down on speed and skill and puck-moving ability on the backend.

Tyson Barrie Statistics

S	Team	League	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-		POST	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-
2004-05-01	Juan de Fuca Grizzlies Bantam B	Bantam	-	-	-	-	-		|
2006-07-01	Juan de Fuca Grizzlies Midget B	Midget	72	43	87	130	-		|
	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	7	0	3	3	2	-3	|
	Victoria Grizzlies	BCHL	0	0	0	0	0		|	Playoffs	3	0	2	2	0
2007-08-01	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	64	9	34	43	32	8	|	Playoffs	7	1	3	4	0	-1
	Canada Pacific U17	WHC-17	6	1	2	3	2		|
2008-09-01	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	68	12	40	52	31	17	|	Playoffs	22	4	14	18	12	10
2009-10-01	Kelowna Rockets “A”	WHL	63	19	53	72	31	11	|	Playoffs	12	3	8	11	6	-2
2010-11-01	Kelowna Rockets “C”	WHL	54	11	47	58	34	4	|	Playoffs	10	2	9	11	8	0
	Canada U20	WJC-20	7	1	2	3	0	6	|
2011-12-01	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	10	0	0	0	0	-2	|
	Lake Erie Monsters	AHL	49	5	27	32	24	-1	|
2012-13	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	32	2	11	13	10	-11	|
	Lake Erie Monsters	AHL	38	7	22	29	7	2	|
2013-14	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	64	13	25	38	20	17	|	Playoffs	3	0	2	2	0	3
	Lake Erie Monsters	AHL	6	0	3	3	0	1	|
2014-15	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	80	12	41	53	26	5	|
	Canada	WC	10	1	5	6	0	12	|
2015-16	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	78	13	36	49	31	-16	|
2016-17	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	74	7	31	38	18	-34	|
	Canada	WC	3	2	5	7	0	5	|
2017-18	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	68	14	43	57	22	-15	|	Playoffs	6	0	4	4	2	-3
2018-19	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	78	14	45	59	36	-3	|	Playoffs	12	1	7	8	4	1
2019-20	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	-	-	-	-	-		|

Alex Kerfoot Statistics

S	Team	League	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-		POST	GP	G	A	TP	PIM	+/-
2009-10-01	Vancouver NW Giants	BCMML	26	7	14	21	4		|
2010-11-01	Vancouver NW Giants	BCMML	38	36	72	108	58		|	Playoffs	5	6	6	12	6
	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	5	0	0	0	0		|	Playoffs	1	0	0	0	0
2011-12-01	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	51	25	44	69	24		|	Playoffs	6	4	0	4	6
2012-13	Coquitlam Express	BCHL	16	8	11	19	16		|
2013-14	Harvard Univ.	NCAA	25	8	6	14	8	0	|
2014-15	Harvard Univ.	NCAA	27	8	22	30	12	16	|
2015-16	Harvard Univ.	NCAA	33	4	30	34	16	11	|
2016-17	Harvard Univ. “C”	NCAA	36	16	29	45	18	20	|
2017-18	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	79	19	24	43	28	-7	|	Playoffs	6	2	0	2	2	-1
2018-19	Colorado Avalanche	NHL	78	15	27	42	38	-9	|	Playoffs	12	0	3	3	6	-1