One Leafs forward may no longer be worth his contract
I know we're just 3 games into the season, but the Leafs have now lost a game, so it's time to look at who needs to go. Okay, so that's probably an overreaction 3 games into the season, but even so, one Leafs forward is clearly not worth the new deal he signed this summer - at least not the way he's being utilized now. For you chart nerds, no, it's not Ryan Reaves. Reavo is awesome. The player that needs to go is Reaves' linemate, David Kampf.
Kampf is a solid 4th line player, but in the 1st year of a 4-year deal, $2.4M is just too much to be paying a guy to play on the 4th line. It's not even Kampf's fault really. It's the Leafs new penalty killing strategy that has tanked the value in Kampf's contract. Even though he was just signed this summer, and has a 10-team no trade list, the Leafs would be smart to explore the trade market on Kampf.
A big part of why Kampf got the money and term he did was his penalty killing ability. As the Leafs' primary penalty killer and the player taking the lion's share of defensive zone draws, Kampf was worth $2.4M playing on the third line. Now that Auston Matthews is shifting into a key penalty killing role, one has to wonder if David Kampf's job, in his reduced role, couldn't be done by someone on a much cheaper contract.
Pontus Holmberg has proven to be a dependable NHLer who can handle some PK responsibilities. The difference between the two is that Holmberg makes a full $1.6M less against the cap. Moving Kampf and bringing up Holmberg would open up some flexibility for the Leafs and allow them to carry an extra roster player. Plus, with Holmberg, the Leafs would also be getting a player in the bottom six who could contribute on offense as well.
Again, none of this is really a knock on Kampf, who remains a fine player with a great engine. But, for $2.4M per season, he may be a luxury that the Leafs cannot afford, especially after reducing his role on the team.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 18 | 190 ANSWERS One Leafs forward may no longer be worth his contract Should the Leafs look into trading David Kampf? | ||
| Yes, he makes too much | 54 | 28.4 % |
| No, they're bad enough defensively | 51 | 26.8 % |
| Only if the return can help right away | 71 | 37.4 % |
| He's a replacement level player | 14 | 7.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
