Kerfoot signed with the Avs a couple years before we had Jack. We just had a lot of LW/LHC types at the time. A freshly drafted Nico, a young Pavel Zacha, 32 year old Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall, Miles Wood. Shero traded for Marcus Johansson as well, although Kerfoot likely had made up his mind by then. Maybe even John Quenneville was more highly regarded than Kerfoot in the moment. I don't think Jesper Bratt was on the radar in 2017.
As much as it's annoying when a guy uses the August 15th route, I can understand choosing a landing spot with (semi) guaranteed NHL time versus making considerably less in the AHL.