Colorado Avalanche: Saying Goodbye to Alexander Kerfoot

The Colorado Avalanche traded away Alexander Kerfoot as part of the blockbuster Free Agency Frenzy trade. He will be missed.

The Colorado Avalanche, discontent to simply sign free agents during Free Agency Frenzy, instead pulled the trigger on a blockbuster trade. The big pieces moving were Tyson Barrie for Nazem Kadri. However, Alexander Kerfoot was also sent to Toronto.

Kerfoot’s tenure with the Avs wasn’t as long as Barrie’s, though he technically had spent his entire NHL career in Colorado. The Avalanche signed Kerfoot as a college free agent two years ago. On a two-year contract, Alexander was due for a new signing this season, and probably a significant pay raise. Granted, said raise would have been easy for the Avs to cover with all their cap space, but it’s likely why they were willing to package him in the deal.

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I have a lot of feelings about this trade. All Avs fans do. We don’t think the Avalanche got fleeced, but we’re not as clear of winners as we were in the Ryan O’Reilly trade and, certainly, the Matt Duchene trade.

But I have some… nostalgic feelings about this trade. Not so much about Kerfoot himself — though I liked the player and will delve into that in a moment. However, his situation on the team reminds me a little of a situation at the beginning of the Avalanche’s tenure here in Colorado.

As you probably know, Kerfoot was roommates with Tyson Jost and JT Compher. This trio of roomies is highlighted in much of the Avs social and video media. For a while, the Avalanche had a different trio of roommates — Eric Lacroix, Stephane Yelle, and my fave from those days, Rene Corbet.

At the beginning of the 1998-99 season, Lacroix was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, thus breaking up the trio. At the trade deadline, Corbet was traded — my first experience with losing a favorite player.

The parallels here aren’t exact, but I’m a nostalgic sort, and I can’t stop thinking about how that year played out.

Anyway, my affinity for Kerfoot stands on its own. In my mind, he was always the consolation prize for losing defenseman Will Butcher to free agency — and I think we got the better end of the deal there.

One of my favorite memories of Alexander Kerfoot is of his very first NHL goal:

He said at the time the goal ricocheted of his leg, but I like to think it was a butt goal because it amuses me to think his first NHL goal was a butt goal. Plus, if you watch the slow motion, the puck really appears to go in off his backside.

When a player gets traded, the team’s PR usually does a simple tweet thanking said player for his service. Instead, the Avs social media team — because they’re awesome — decided to do a whole Twitter storm.

At the beginning they talk about his service for the team:

However, the social media team is about highlighting players’ personalities. They pointed out that the young man is always smiling:

Of course, the whole roommate situation was delved into:

They also highlighted a fun game show Kerfoot did with Compher, the KeyBank Match Game:

And they finished with a fond farewell:

I liked Mr. Hahvahrd. I’m sorry he got traded away — he did what the Avs needed him to do, and he was a pleasant presence always.

Good luck to Alexander Kerfoot as he starts his new adventure as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Colorado Avalanche, and their fans, appreciated you while you were here.