TORONTO — Brad Treliving has picked a curious time to dispose of a regrettable contract.
On a day when Max Domi and Steven Lorentz — a couple of versatile forwards more suited to the wing — centre lines for the injury-riddled Toronto Maple Leafs, the club placed serviceable fourth-line centre David Kämpf on waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract.
Kämpf may not be great bang for the buck at his current $2.4 million AAV, a salary that was set to run through 2026-27. The 30-year-old’s first pass through waivers upon conclusion of training camp proved that.
But Kämpf, 30, still believes he is an NHL player. And, starting Friday afternoon, when Kämpf’s Leafs tenure officially ends, we’ll see if one of the 31 other general managers shares that belief.
After four games riding the AHL buses this fall, something he hadn’t done since 2017-18 in Rockford, Kämpf had enough. The Czech native and 536-game veteran is willing to accept a reduced salary to keep his NHL dream alive and boost his blip on his country’s Olympic radar.
Though he’ll retain the $1.35-million signing bonus he was awarded on July 1, he is walking away from roughly $3.7 million in guaranteed money — minus whatever he can recoup from a new team over this season and next.
Kämpf had been a trusted role player under ex-coach Sheldon Keefe, killing penalties, winning most of his faceoffs, and dining on D-zone starts.
But he fell out of current coach Craig Berube’s favour so aggressively that he got scratched in 12 of Toronto’s 13 playoff games last spring, Treliving tried to move him via trade, then Kämpf failed to make the roster out of September’s training camp.
When 4C Scott Laughton suffered a foot injury in pre-season and the durable Kämpf still didn’t get tapped to fill in his most natural position, the writing was on the wall.
“I didn’t see frustration in Kämpf,” Berube said, after the centre took leave from the Marlies. “He came in, and obviously there was competition at camp, and he had to fight for his spot. We have too many players, and we’ve got to make decisions. Him going down to the minors, he doesn’t feel like he wants to be down there, so that’s his decision on what he does. That’s not for me to answer.”
The irony in Kämpf’s departure after four-plus years with Toronto is that the Leafs are currently screaming for (a) centre depth, with Laughton (upper body) injured again and Auston Matthews (lower body) also sidelined; and (b) defensive stability and reliable penalty killing, the two things Kämpf excels at.
Toronto ranks 32nd in goals allowed per game (3.82) and 21st on the PK (77.36 per cent).
New on the job in 2023, Treliving overpaid for Kämpf in a thin free agency market once his pitch to UFA centre Ryan O’Reilly fell flat.
Kämpf is who he is: defence first, low scoring. Plenty of neutral shifts. He got 3C money for 4C performance.
Ultimately, Treliving traded a first-round pick plus prospect Nikita Grebenkin to Philadelphia at the 2025 deadline for Laughton, who brings more offence, sandpaper, and intangibles than Kämpf. That made him expendable.
Today, management would rather have the cap space than the depth.
Soon, Joseph Woll and his $3.67 million will needed to be activated off LTIR, for example.
Kämpf’s partially buried salary still counted $1.25 million against the 2025-26 Leafs’ cap; his $2.4 million for 2026-27 comes off completely, which opens Treliving to increased spending this summer.
For the Leafs’ sake, let’s hope management spends that money wisely.
On a player the coach deems valuable enough to play.
