Harvard star Alex Kerfoot is now ready to leave college and join the NHL, but it won’t be with the team who drafted him. He’s more than likely to leave the New Jersey Devils, but nobody seems to care.
The New Jersey Devils have had an amazing offseason. General Manager Ray Shero crushed the NHL Draft led by first-overall pick Nico Hischier. He traded extra draft picks for Marcus Johansson to make a secretly scary top six. Shero signed Brian Boyle to solidify the bottom six. The excitement behind the Devils is high once again.
Coming into this offseason, before free agency and the NHL Draft Lottery, Devils fans thought the most significant move would be losing college free agent Alexander Kerfoot.
Shero has said on multiple occasions that he wanted to re-sign Kerfoot, but felt the closer he got to the August 15th deadline, the less likely that would happen.
Kerfoot is a good player with high upside. He scored 45 points in 36 games as the captain of the Harvard Crimson. He has great puck skills, and is only 23 years old. So, why does nobody seem to care that the Devils are about to lose him for nothing?
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The great offseason for one helps Devils fans cope with the loss of Kerfoot. Seeing the team transform into one of the best young cores in the league makes losing one player hurt a lot less. Losing Kerfoot doesn’t even drop their prospect rankings at this point.
Kerfoot was also never an actual part of the Devils. Sure, he competed in a development camp, but he was always a Harvard player the team hoped would come in the future.
Finally, the Devils are tied to an even better college free agent, Will Butcher. If Shero can sign the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner to sure up this defense, then Kerfoot would be an even bigger afterthought.
The Devils only spent a fifth-round pick on Kerfoot. Also, they did so in a draft that was five years ago. That’s right, Kerfoot was drafted by the Devils when Ilya Kovalchuk was still on the team. Dozens of players joined the Devils in the draft since Kerfoot’s name was called.
Sure, Kerfoot could go the way of seemingly all big named college free agent and sign with the rival New York Rangers, but does anyone really care? It doesn’t seem like it.