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Getting to know U-tah: Forward Alex Kerfoot
Through training camp, ALLCITY Network will publish profiles of players and staff on the Utah Hockey Club’s hockey operations side to help Utah fans get to know their new team before the first puck drop on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center.
Alex Kerfoot
Position: Forward
Height/weight: 5-11, 186
Shoots: Left
Age: 30
2023-24 stats: 82 games, 13 goals, 45 points
Career stats: 524 games, 87 goals, 264 points
Contract status: Signed through 2024-25 season (AAV $3.5 million)
Agent: JP Barry
Spouse: Marissa
Daughter: Carrera
Dog: Coconut
(Getty Images)
The past two seasons for Alex Kerfoot were marked by change.
The Utah forward signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Coyotes on July 1, 2023. Eight and a half months later, the NHL announced the Coyotes’ relocation to Salt Lake City. A month after that, Alex and his wife Marissa welcomed their first baby, a daughter named Carrera. And a month after that, the Kerfoots moved to Utah.
“To be honest, the birth came at a perfect time for us,” Kerfoot said. “We had her May 27. Summers are still busy for us, but there’s a lot more flexibility and free time. It was really nice to be able to kind of just be around and see her every day over the course of those three months.”
The quasi-paternity leave is nearing an end. Utah’s first training camp will begin on Sept. 19 and the grind of the season will commence when the fledgling franchise hosts the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener on Oct. 8 at Delta Center.
When it begins, Kerfoot will reprise the role for which he was acquired: Mr. Versatility. While he registered one of the best offensive seasons of his career last season with 13 goals and 45 points, Kerfoot will be up and down the lineup again this season, bouncing from first-line minutes to third-line minutes, helping out on special teams and late in games when Utah is protecting leads.
“I think in all the defensive aspects of the game, he’s a genius out there,” coach André Tourigny said of Kerfoot. “He reads the play. He has a feel, he has an urgency, he has pride to do all of that, defensively. I mean, he’s doing a lot of good stuff offensively and he has skill and can make plays, but when you ask me what’s really special, that’s his plays and reads defensively.”
(Getty Images)
From Dec. 1 until the end of the season, Kerfoot logged the third-most average ice time (17:58) among Coyotes forwards, trailing only Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. Part of that spike came because he was filling in for injured center Barrett Hayton on the top line and on the top power-play unit. Part of it was because his game took off and Tourigny’s trust in him took off with it.
“You don’t want to set expectations coming into a new spot just because you really don’t know how it’s going to go,” Kerfoot said. “I just wanted to focus on doing the best in my roles, but I wasn’t really thinking, ‘Okay, I need to be playing this much, or in this spot, and that’s what’s got to happen for it to be a successful year.’
“Given the role that I’ve played on other teams, I knew that I was going to move around; I knew that things were going to change for me. I really just kept an open mind. I didn’t know where I was going to fit, but I just wanted to do my best in whatever role I was in.”
Kerfoot’s offensive output came in spite of the fact that he got off to a slow start and then hit a lull like most of the team did in late January and February when news first broke of the potential relocation and the team lost 14 straight games to fall out of playoff contention.
“I think it’s so easy just to say that was the reason, but I think that there’s a lot more to it,” Kerfoot said. “Just because news comes out or rumors come out doesn’t mean you have an excuse to lose 14 games in a row like that. Good teams should be able to find a way around that.
“But I definitely think that my game dipped there for a stretch. That’s something I wasn’t happy with, but I thought that I finished the season strong. The last 10 games felt really good and I used that stretch as motivation this offseason to realize that I have to keep pushing because I have to be more consistent, take my game to another level and be better for the team.”
There will be times this season, whether due to injuries or slumps, that Kerfoot will find himself back on the top line, or back on the top power play as he was last season, but he admits that he has grown comfortable in his Swiss Army Knife role.
“I’ve really come to embrace it and I think that it adds value,” he said. “You always want to be pushing to play more, so it’s not like I’d be satisfied if I’m playing eight minutes a night on a line and not helping the team, but there’s going to be times for sure where my game is slipping or I need to help push another line.
“If you find a line that gels and is having lots of success, you’re probably not going to be moving around that much and that would be great. But there’s very little of that in this day and age between injuries and all the in-game adjustments so you just have to find a way to help your team win no matter what role you’re playing.”
Related Kerfoot links
Alex Kerfoot has embraced Mr. Versatility role for Coyotes this season
On Alex Kerfoot and those blended cheesesteaks
Alex Kerfoot took the road less traveled
Top photo of Alex Kerfoot via Getty Images
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