5 Moves the Toronto Maple Leafs Management Should Make Now
By David Agnew
Stop Starting David Kampf in Overtime
It was an interesting idea when Sheldon Keefe came up with this overtime strategy last season. The thinking is that if Kampf wins the opening faceoff, he immediately heads to the bench and Auston Matthews jumps on, with the team already possessing the puck.
If Kampf loses the draw, the Leafs have one of their better (supposedly) defensive centers on the ice to help neutralize the opposition.
The first problem with this plan is that Matthews wins more faceoffs than Kampf. This season (in a small sample size) neither has been particularly proficient, with Matthews winning 48.9% of his draws and Kampf coming in at only 41.7%. Last season, Matthews held a smaller edge, 52.4% versus 51.5% for Kampf.
Problem number two is that Auston Matthews has greatly improved his defensive play over the last couple of years, to the point that I would seriously question whether David Kampf has any edge at all over Matthews in that area.
The last and biggest problem with starting Kampf is that it ignores the fact that overtime is a game of quick transitions. The way to win is to take advantage of a change in possession and move the puck up ice quickly enough to create a 2-on-1 (while being agile enough to prevent the opposition from doing the same).
Having Kampf (or any defensive forward) on the ice at any point in OT kills the opportunity to move quickly enough onto offence to create quality scoring chances. So please….stop doing it.