Brad Treliving could soon ditch key Kyle Dubas acquisition

There's a new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and his name is Brad Treliving. The former Flames executive took over arguably the highest profile management job in the NHL after Kyle Dubas was given his walking papers by the team; he's since re-emerged as president of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Treliving has a monumental task ahead of him, as several top players on the current Leafs roster are going to be needing new deals before too long, while several other current members of the team who helped them win their first postseason series since 2004 are also up for new deals.

But while Treliving begins the initial tasks at hand of figuring out who stays and who leaves, it looks as though he could be getting ready to say goodbye to one key acquisition of Dubas in 4th line forward Alex Kerfoot. 

It was Kerfoot who was acquired by the Leafs from the Colorado Avalanche in the infamous deal that sent gritty fan favorite Nazem Kadri back to the Rocky Mountains. The last two seasons, Kerfoot has appeared in all 82 games for the Leafs. He also scored one of the biggest goals of the year for Toronto earlier this year, deflecting home the shot in overtime in Game 4 of their Round 1 series against Tampa Bay in overtime of what was originally a 4-1 lead for the Lightning.

According to NHL Insider Darren Dreger, the Leafs are likely going to be moving on from the pending free agent Kerfoot, and that his hometown Vancouver Canucks could be interested. 

"As an unrestricted free agent, I would think that Alex Kerfoot would be high on [Vancouver's] list. You know, at times, he was frustrating. He was a frustrating player for the Maple Leafs, but maybe more from a fan perspective because you could see the skill set and you could see the want. At times, you could see the execution. It just seemed to be inconsistent, but he is a very versatile and serviceable forward. They played him in all situations in Toronto - top line, 2nd line, 3rd line... he can play center, he can play the wing. I can't imagine with the fact that he's a B.C. boy that the Vancouver Canucks wouldn't have him high on their radar."

In 442 NHL games spent with Colorado and Toronto, Kerfoot has scored 74 goals with 145 assists.