The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired defenceman Tyson Barrie, forward Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round draft pick from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for centre Nazem Kadri, defenceman Calle Rosen and Toronto’s 2020 third-round pick.
Colorado is retaining 50 per cent of Barrie’s annual average salary of $5.5 million.
“Teams look at our roster and are looking for centres and know we’re very fortunate with Auston [Matthews] and John [Tavares] … [it] pushed Naz down into that third slot,” Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas told reporters Monday. “Teams look at that and maybe saw somebody there that they could acquire to fill a need higher in the lineup.”
Kadri spent his entire NHL career with the Maple Leafs after being selected seventh overall by the organization in the 2009 NHL Draft.
Known for his aggressive style of play, Kadri has occasionally got himself into trouble including getting suspended several times. Most recently, he was disciplined by the NHL for the remainder of a first-round series against the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a crosscheck to the head of Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk in Game 2.
The 28-year-old Kadri had 16 goals and 28 assists in 73 regular season games last season for Toronto.
Colorado general manager Joe Sakic says Kadri, who is under contract for the next three seasons, is a proven goal scorer and a fierce competitor.
“[He] will immediately fit right in as our second-line centre and improve our scoring depth,” Sakic said in a statement. “Calle is a young defenceman with upside who has played in the AHL and has also seen some NHL time over the last two years.”
Toronto will lose depth at centre by dealing Kadri, but strengthens its defence with the acquisition of Barrie.
Barrie, 27, had 14 goals and 45 assists in 78 games for the Avalanche. He added eight points in 12 playoff games and has spent all 484 of his NHL games with Colorado.
The Victoria native won gold with Canada at the world championships in 2015 along with a silver at the 2017 event.
He is under contract for the 2019-20 season before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Barrie said the trade came out of nowhere.
“I can’t wait to get there and try and win a Stanley Cup with these guys,” he said.
It was the third defenceman of the day acquired by Dubas and the Maple Leafs after also receiving Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur from the Ottawa Senators in a six-player trade. Blue-liner Nikita Zaitsev went the other way while Ron Hainsey signed with Ottawa as a free agent.
Kerfoot, 24, is a centre and restricted free agent who had 15 goals and 27 assists in 78 regular season games for the Avalanche. The Vancouver native added three assists in 12 playoff games.
He was a Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2017 while playing with the Harvard Crimson.
Sakic says the emergence of other options on the back end for the Avs opened the door for a Barrie deal.
“With the arrival and emergence of Samuel Girard and Cale Makar, as well as the recent draft pick of Bowen Byram, we felt it was time to move in this direction with Tyson’s contract expiring next summer,” said Sakic.
Rosen, 25, split the last two seasons between the NHL and AHL. He played four games for the Maple Leafs last season and scored his first career goal on April 1 against the New York Islanders.
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