Maple Leafs Parting Ways With David Kampf Helped With Their Salary Cap Flexibility, Easily Activating Joseph Woll

admin-cdn3 hours ago

0 0 2 minutes read

Maple Leafs Parting Ways With David Kampf Helped With Their Salary Cap Flexibility, Easily Activating Joseph Woll

David Kampf became an unrestricted free agent on Friday after he cleared unconditional waivers, the final step before both he and the Toronto Maple Leafs mutually agreed to terminate his contract. The Leafs were carrying $1.25 million of his $2.4 million cap hit when he was with the Toronto Marlies after he failed to make the roster at training camp. When Kampf departed the organization to contemplate his future, the Leafs got some temporary salary cap space as the player was suspended without pay.

However, now that the Leafs are free of the contract, the move has allowed them to make some roster adjustments with ease. The Leafs announced that they activated Joseph Woll from long-term-injured reserve. With the additional $1.25 million from Kampf’s cap hit, the Leafs had enough room to activate Woll, while also calling up Easton Cowan. The only player on the Leafs’ long-term injured list right now is Marshall Rifai, who underwent wrist surgery after an injury in pre-season action.

In the past, the Leafs were always up against the salary cap and would have to place a player on long-term injured reserve just to free up space. That would result in knowing they had to rule out a player for a minimum of 10 games and 24 days, even if the player recovered earlier than that timeframe.

Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) on X
David Kämpf is officially an unrestricted free agent. The former #leafs forward cleared unconditional waivers today and has had his contract terminated.

Per PuckPedia.com, the Leafs have $1,756,539 in deadline cap space. They’ll likely need more than that if they are in the market to acquire an impact player to help their short-term aspirations. But with the Leafs struggling on the ice right now, it’s probably the least of their concerns.

Maple Leafs Place David Kampf On Waivers For Purpose Of Terminating Contract
Kampf took a leave from the Marlies to think about his future before this decision came down on Thursday.

It’s incredibly rare for the Leafs to activate a player from long-term injured reserve a day before they even play a game. But knowing Kampf isn’t coming back, the move was an easy one. The Leafs are currently carrying the salary cap of 26 players either on their active roster or just through regular injured reserve, something the Leafs just haven’t been able to do in the past.