starting lineup

Sandin is not signing for that. There is zero comparison between Kerfoot and Schmidt. Kerfoot is likely not moving unless he is practically given away, or is held until the trade deadline. Thinking you are going to move Kerfoot and get some decent draft capital back now suggests to me you don't have a very good feel of what the current situation is in the NHL.

As "pure" LWs, we have Max Comtois, Frank Vatrano and Max Jones, and we also have "hybrid" forwards (LW/C) Mason McTavish, Adam Henrique and Isac Lundestrom who might play there, so one year of Alex Kerfoot isn't all that appealing to us, especially in light of the fact that Kerfoot won't mean the difference between getting into the playoffs and missing them. Just my opinion, but it's hard to see anyone other than Minnesota or Winnipeg being interested in him, able to absorb his cap hit, and being a place he'd like to play.

lol the leaf hate is so silly here. Kerfoot scored 50 points, was good on the pk and can play center. his cap hit is 3.5 but his real salary is 750k. Getting Kerfoot for a 4th IS practically giving him away.

Also Michael Andersson in LA was the direct comparable to Sandin, also Brannstrom signed for 100k less. He has limited nhl games, no arb rights, and the leafs have nhl D, so he has no leverage

The only thing worse here than leaf hate is leaf blinders. Kerfoot has 1 year left on his contract, and is not a considered one of the superstar players in the league. So why would a rebuilding team want him, especially paying draft capital from a deep draft for a one year rental. Kerfoot also knows that if he wants to score on his next contract, this year will be important to repeat last year's stats. He is not going to do that on a rebuilding team. So his 10 team NT list is going to include teams who are not contending. Just about every team that has cap space falls into this category. For the few team that are do consider themselves cup contenders this year and have cap space, do they have a hole in their middle 6 forward line up that picking up Kerfoot would then elevate them to cup favorites? Answer = no. Kerfoot scored 50 points once so far in his career, last year, playing with multiple team mates who also had career years. The few teams who may need a middle 6 forward to bolster their play off chances will not want to deal now, they will wait until the trade deadline and see where they stand, and who else may be available. It is not like Kerfoot has wowed anyone with his play off performance, which is what a play off contender is most looking for. There are also multiple, multiple teams who are not cap compliant right now and may be looking to let go a middle 6 forward as the season gets closer. As the league stands today, those with cap space have all the power, they know teams will be coming knocking at the door with options that are more appealing.

"leaf blinders", I'm trading a 50 pt winger with a $750k salary for a 4th. Anaheim could easily flip him for more at the deadline, or if they surprise they can keep him for the playoffs, Anaheim has leverage and this would be a win-win regardless of how they play this year.

The only thing you could be right about is him having Anaheim on his 10 team NTC (or any other team willing to offer this).

a) we don't know that, it is likely he'd have a non-playoff team on the NTC but who actually knows, players have different considerations when filling out an NTC (family, actually city, the country)
b) players might only have say 5 teams they actually don't want to go to, but they have to have a list of 10 as per their contract, so he can waive
c) players with NTC's get moved. Bjorkstrand got moved to Seattle and they are bad, by your logic shouldn't Seattle have been on his NTC
d) even if you're right and Kerfoot won't go to any rebuilding team, Minny has over 5 mill in space. Wouldn't they want a versatile middle 6 player for a 4th

Kerfoot barely makes any real money and can play centre, which makes him more attractive than other middle 6 wingers.

It is more likely in my mind that a team this would happen rather than NO TEAM be willing pay a 4th for him (and kerfoot accepting should they be o his NTC)

If I did an AGM as Dallas and trade Gurianov for a 4th literally wouldn't be an issue. But because it's the leafs people have to twist themselves into a pretzel to this trading a middle 6 winger with league min salary and a 10 team NTC for a 4th is impossible. The leafs traded Zaitsev, Clarkson and Phaneuf. But yes, this can't happen