The case for keeping David Kampf on the Maple Leafs

When you look at the Toronto Maple Leafs roster and see the abundance of forwards, it seems like one of the easiest players to identify as the odd man out is the fourth liner who frequently became a healthy scratch late in the season and only ended up appearing in one playoff game last spring. Despite Kampf’s performance and his inability to win over Craig Berube in the same fashion that he did Sheldon Keefe, keeping Kampf over some of the alternatives like Calle Jarnkrok, Bobby McMann, and Nick Robertson might be the right course of action for Brad Treliving.

The biggest and best argument for David Kampf is a simple one, he’s a centre. The Leafs depth at centre no longer requires him given that Matthews, Tavares, Roy, and Laughton looks like an improvement, and the Leafs still have spot duty options like Max Domi, Steven Lorentz, and Dakota Joshua they can rely on as well. The Leafs also may now have options like Boyd, Groulx, and Quillan waiting in the wings as well, but when it comes to an option at centre who can fill that need for an extended period of time, David Kampf is still the most capable at that position, even if his playing style doesn’t fit with Craig Berube.

The next factor that needs to be considered is Kampf’s penalty killing ability. With Marner, Holmberg, and Dewar out since the beginning of last season, the Leafs have had a fair bit of penalty killing turnover already. Kampf might still be someone that the Leafs trust in at least that capacity and while he might not be in the opening night lineup, the penalty kill might be Kampf’s path back to playing time for the Leafs.

The next comes down to who can be easily moved and perhaps more importantly, moved for a meaningful return. Kampf’s $2.4M AAV, even if close to the other options in overall talent, is a hindrance. It’s likely that he could become movable after this season when he’s heading into the final year of his contract and his final signing bonus installment is paid out, but that’s not the case this year, and the reality is that Robertson’s youth and offensive upside, McMann’s 20-goal season on a $1.35M cap hit, and Jarnkrok’s final year that carries a cap hit of $2.1M but only $775k of actual salary left to be paid all make them more attractive options to move in trade and give the Leafs a chance to pick up a meaningful asset in return instead of simply dump Kampf.

For a somewhat similar reason, Kampf is the only one of those players that could potentially serve as non-roster depth, as his $2.4M AAV for this season and next isn’t likely to be claimed off of waivers and he can still provide $1.15M of cap relief while being non-roster depth on the Marlies.

None of this should result in anyone feeling excited about David Kampf as a Leaf, he’ll be expensive depth, but at least usable depth. It’s just from looking at the Leafs abundance of bottom six forwards, a centre who is a penalty killing specialist fits the bill of a worthwhile 13th forward, while the combination of Jarnkrok, McMann, and Robertson might give the Leafs the assets and the cap space to pick up a roster upgrade at some point between now and the trade deadline.