David Kampf is a servicable fourth-liner, but at a cap hit of $2.4M per season for another three seasons, is expensive. They also have Pontus Holmberg who has looked very good at times, but it still trying to figure out the game at the NHL level. Yes, they have Fraser Minten waiting in the wings, but aside from them, the depth down the middle throughout the organization is scarce.
Adding the 27-year-old 2021 Stanley Cup champion would instantly give the Leafs a stable lineup of centers and the ability to move Tavares down to the third line or begin to phase him out ahead of next summer, when his contract expires.
At 6'0 and 194 pounds, Colton isn't the biggest center by any means, but he can provide some secondary scoring (17 goals and 40 points last season) as well as kill penalties and play on the second power play unit. Colton, as Leaf fans know, is also a bit of a wrecking ball having 141 hits last season and a total of 518 through just 270 career regular season games.
With a reasonable $4M cap hit for the next three seasons, it would likely mean that Max Domi and/or Tyler Bertuzzi won't be back, should the Leafs go this route, but the team has enough depth on the wing to replace one or both of them and would be able to find cheaper options in free agency.
