Moving David Kampf: Someone has to want a penalty killer

It’s easy to see a path where some of the current Maple Leafs on the roster will be shown the door. If new players are coming in at the trade deadline someone is going to come out. 

When it comes to moving on from one of these players it seems like the most likely decision that Brad Treliving will make is to pay a little higher price on an asset that he is acquiring to send out a contract/roster spot/salary that is interfering with the Leafs being compliant with the collective agreement and NHL rulebook. The Leafs have certainly dealt away players that way before, but in this short series of articles, the idea of dealing players based on their potential merit around the league will be explored before things ultimately play out the way we expect them to and a fourth round pick is attached to a deal to make the Leafs’ trade partner take back some salary.

After looking at Ryan Reaves and Max Domi, we’ll take a look at whether there is possibly a market for David Kampf.

David Kampf’s contact is a strange one. It seems one heavily based in Kampf being a trusted option for Sheldon Keefe and the former Leafs’ coach expressing to his GM that Kampf would be a player they would want to keep around despite the fact he had a down year heading into his contract. Kampf somehow getting more than two years term, more than a $2M AAV cap hit, and a 10-team no trade list to boot is beyond ridiculous for a fourth line centre. His contract is essentially a “what not to do” when it comes to team building, but there are a couple of catches.

The first catch is that David Kampf is a trusted penalty killer. He has the speed to keep up with Mitch Marner and that the Leafs have leaned heavily on that duo is likely a big part of why Kampf is still around.

The second catch is the rising salary cap. The Leafs are already becoming quite familiar with the lack of trustworthy bottom six centres around the league and while Kampf’s contract might have looked like a burden before, it could very well be in-line with what a lot of fourth line centres who kill penalties make going forward.

The Leafs might not want to sacrifice their centre depth, but the cap savings are significant, and while Kampf might be trusted and a better penalty killer than the other options, having Fraser Minten, Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, and Steven Lorentz as fourth line centre options and armed with the knowledge that playing Kampf as a third line centre is a bad idea, it’s probably worth checking out who needs centre depth/a strong penalty killer.

Kampf’s no trade clause

Kampf’s 10-team no trade clause probably isn’t much of a barrier for the Leafs. His list likely consists mainly of non-playoff teams, and non-playoff teams wouldn’t be looking to add a role player at the trade deadline anyway. The Leafs might actually struggle more to move Kampf as salary in a deal with a deadline seller than they would flipping him to a playoff bound team or one that believes a penalty kill upgrade is their barrier to a wild card spot.

Who would want David Kampf?

It always feels like low hanging fruit to connect a Leafs player to the Edmonton Oilers but here we are once again. The Oilers bottom six doesn’t make a lot of sense for what would presumably be asked of them. There is no real “shutdown” guy in the mix and their penalty kill is in the bottom third of the league at 75.6%. If there is a gap on what appears to be a strong roster, that’s probably it and it was probably something that Viktor Arvidsson was expected to help sure-up but he has responded with about as underwhelming a season as you could imagine. Plus, he’s not a centre, and after an unquestionably strong 1-2 punch of McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers are either going to need to rely on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins up the middle as well or hope for some consistency out of both Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique to carry them. It’s not unreasonable to suggest David Kampf being a fit.

I don’t know how serious the Minnesota Wild are about their status as a playoff bound team. It’s easy to see the Avalanche passing them in their division, but as long as they don’t completely implode, they look like a sure thing for at least a wild card spot. They don’t look like a team that should be beefing up for a long run and swinging for the fences at the deadline, but a tweak or two to get an extra round of playoff revenue would make sense, and with the second worst PK% (71.6%) of any team presently sitting in a playoff spot, David Kampf would be a fit.

The Red Wings are a bit more of a bubble team as they are barely hanging onto a wild card spot heading into the break. They have a point advantage and games at hand over the Bruins and Blue Jackets (who could also benefit from a PK specialist). The Red Wings having the worst PK in the league at 69.7% make them a worthwhile landing spot for Kampf as well. It’s odd because their roster looks like a collection of PK specialists and this could be more system driven, but on the surface Kampf looks like he’d address a pressing need and the team also looks like it could benefit from some centre depth as well.

As mentioned above, the Bruins and Blue Jackets also fit as potential landing spots, but the Bruins are likely looking to get younger and the Blue Jackets are likely looking to go bigger in the trade market.

What would the return look like?

It goes without saying that the return wouldn’t be much. A late round draft pick would be quite the achievement for the Leafs, but what seems more likely is that Kampf gets flipped for someone who needs a change of scenery.

With the Oilers, I’d suggest Kampf for Adam Henrique as an interesting idea. While Henrique costs a little more, he sheds a year of term from the commitment to Kampf, and if things are going right with him he could be the third line centre option he was considered to be last season.

For the most part, a Kampf move is either about gaining the short term cap availability now to bring in a roster upgrade or looking at the long term outlook where shedding Kampf’s term as soon as the Leafs can find a suitor is the priority. Opening up a space for Fraser Minten next season to come in as the 4C is also a benefit.

Mitigating Seller’s Remorse

I’m not sure there would be any seller’s remorse under any situation. While Kampf is still killing penalties and is second among forwards in short handed time on ice, Craig Berube has used Matthew Knies, Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, Steven Lorentz, and Auston Matthews with regularity as well. Throw in the fact that whatever third line centre the Leafs are targeting will also likely be capable of filling that role, it’s not a huge risk, especially when Calle Jarnkrok may also return.

Prediction

It seems like some money needs to be moved off the Leafs roster and Kampf is the easy favourite to be the odd man out. This also isn’t the first time Kampf was expected to be the odd man out and he has consistently avoided being traded and has even been re-signed over that stretch of Leafs’ fans playing matchmaker for him. Just like every other time, this time feels real and with Kampf’s average time of ice at a career low and with Craig Berube having none of Sheldon Keefe’s willingness to put Kampf at the 3C position, this is probably it.

Depending on what those ten teams are on Kampf’s no trade list, it will determine whether he’s a salary throw-in or gets shopped on his own.