NHL Trade Rumors: 3 Landings Spots Named For Maple Leafs' David Kampf

Maple Leafs looking to move David Kampf, could have 3 teams in mind

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have $2.9 million in cap space available. But with hopes of still potentially upgrading the top-six, they'll need more than that. The most likely trade candidate on the club is David Kampf, who has two years remaining at a $2.4 million cap hit.

The 30-year-old center became an afterthought for head coach Craig Berube, sitting out as a healthy scratch often near the end of the season, and only suiting up for a single playoff contest of Toronto's 13-game postseason journey. And when he did play this past season, he recorded just five goals and 13 points in 59 games, in 12:24 average ice-time per night.

Mike Auguello of Hockey Hot Stove writes that Kampf moving on is "inevitable", and names three clubs that could make sense as suitors.

"Teams like Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Chicago seem to be operating with dreams of Gavin McKenna and getting over the cap floor. The Penguins are a club that has seven expiring contracts after next season, which might make Kampf more attractive with two years left on his deal."

Pens GM Kyle Dubas is familiar with Kampf, of course, as he's the one who brought him to Toronto in the first place, back in 2021-22, when the 6'2" center had his best season with the Leafs: 11 goals with a +12 rating, while playing in all 82 games.

Auguello also lists a few other factors that make Kampf a tradeable asset for teams such as those three:

1) Kampf has no trade protection in the last year of his deal (2026-27), though he does have a 10-team no-trade list in effect for the coming season (why Kampf was able to secure any type of trade protection in a contract is a puzzle in itself, but is a story for another day).

2) With a signing bonus of $1.325 million each season, presumably in July, says Auguello, any new team would only owe him $1.075 million in base salary for the coming year.

3) Demand far outweighs supply when it comes to centers. If one is available, teams will have them on their radar.

But if Treliving is to rid himself of Kampf, a trade is far more preferable to a buyout, as that would only save the Leafs a meagre $716K per year in each of the next two seasons, per PuckPedia.