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Toronto Maple Leafs: The Implications of Re-signing Kampf and Holmberg

By Marco Rovere

TORONTO, CANADA - APRIL 20: David Kampf #64 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Two of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on April 20, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - APRIL 20: David Kampf #64 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Two of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on April 20, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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David Kampf is officially a Toronto Maple Leafs forward for another four seasons.

Though the Toronto Maple Leafs definitely overpaid for Kampf, it’s only a slight overpayment and he’s an effective player.

On top of bringing back Kampf, the Leafs also resigned Pontus Holmberg to a two-year deal, with Brad Treliving making it a one-way deal instead of his previous two-way contract.

What does that mean? If the Leafs do not plan on having Holmberg on their opening-day roster, the player will require going through waivers to get the call-up to the big club.

This signifies that the plan is to have Holmberg playing regular NHL minutes in 2023-24, so where does that leave the Maple Leafs regarding the middle of their forward group?

The Implications of Signing Kampf and Holmberg for the Toronto Maple Leafs

As of right now, the Leafs seemingly have all four of their centers signed for next season.

The main problem with having Kampf as the 3rd line centre, as he has been in the past, is that he has a career high 11 goals and has no offensive component to his game.

The 28-year-old has notoriously struggled in that role and played it a bunch this season, posting just 27 points, his career high in six seasons in the NHL

Assuming  Holmberg is the fourth line centre, are the Leafs comfortable with Kampf because they feel Holmberg has 3rd line potential and an as of yet unseen offensive upside?

The Leafs main weakness last season was a lack of scoring ability at the bottom of the lineup.  On Saturday they lost Ryan O’Reilly, Michael Bunting, Alex Kerfoot and Noel Acciari, meaning they will have a significantly different team next season.

Right now the bottom six consists of Holmberg, Kampf, Ryan Reeves, Sam Lafferty and likely one of Nicholas Robertson or Calle Jarnkrok + whoever else makes the team.  Is that enough scoring? It sure doesn’t seem like it.

Luckily for all Maple Leaf fans, the questions regarding the tea’s future lineup are about to come to an end as we push toward the 2023-24 season, and it seems all those dominos started to fall when the team signed a fourth line center  to play on the third line.

Next. The key Mistake the Leafs Made at the Draft. dark

Offense looks to be an issue going forward.

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