There are a lot of great things that can be said about Calle Jarnkrok’s career. He’s a solid veteran. He takes on any assignment at any position on any line and does his best to meet what the coach has asked for. In the prime of his career he was the type of player that every coach would be thrilled to have in their lineup.

The catch in 2025-26 was that Jarnkrok was 34 and had already been showing signs of wear in the previous season. There was plenty of discussion that the Leafs were already looking to move on from him and David Kampf but no takers could be found. Jarnkrok’s contract situation made him the more favourable player of the two to work with as well as the trio of Lorentz, Jarnkrok, and Laughton was a bit of a playoff bright spot last year.

Rolling the dice on Jarnkrok was understandable.

Jarnkrok picked up a goal in each of the Leafs first three games to start the year. He’d pick up another goal in game nine. His sixth goal came on January 13th and that would be his last as a Maple Leaf. To say that he started strong and ended soft is accurate. He came in fighting for a spot in the lineup and even after the trade deadline sell off, he wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the lineup as the allure of the mystery box, and giving time to Michael Pezzetta became more favourable for Brad Treliving and Craig Berube.

Jarnkrok had his useful moments in between. There were times when he was relied on as the two-way conscience for either John Tavares or Max Domi led lines. He was a staple of the penalty kill when he was in the lineup. He was a good veteran to have around players like Easton Cowan and Jacob Quillan.

Calle Jarnkrok did the one thing that you’d expect Calle Jarnkrok to do and that is keep expected goals down in a fourth line role and he did that well to an almost startling degree. Equally startling was how there was no sign of offence when he was on the ice, so much so that despite an impressive result in limited chances against, Jarnkrok was at the bottom of the league in all differentials; goals, expected goals, and shot attempts.

A lot of that is to be expected when you are tethered to Steven Lorentz for most of your ice time. That’s not a shot at Lorentz or Jarnkrok, neither of them is expected to generate offence, and Scott Laughton and Jacob Quillan aren’t the centres to help put them in scoring situations either. And while Jarnkrok’s numbers are terrible, at some point the fact that every bottom six forward or bottom pairing defenceman on the Leafs sits at the bottom of the rankings, it starts becoming more about how Brad Treliving built a bad team and Craig Berube’s system was disastrous with the personnel he had to work with.

There were some good times with Jarnkrok but as an older free agent and the Leafs in need of a retool/rebuild, there is almost zero chance that Jarnkrok will be returning to the Maple Leafs next season. I don’t think his NHL days need to come to a close but he’ll likely be on a one year league minimum deal somewhere and fighting for a depth job if he wants to stick around.

Jarnkrok grinds for a goal early in the season: