With more forward depth than ever, it feels like Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Kampf will be put on waivers before the season starts.
If the Leafs send Kampf to the Toronto Marlies, they'll be able to bury $1.15 million of his salary in the American Hockey League, but will still be forced to keep the rest of his $1.25 million against the salary cap. That's not the biggest salary cap dump in the world, but it's still obviously more you'd like to pay to bury Kampf's contract in the salary cap world.
However, that's the price of doing business and the team may as well save the money if he's not going to play. I do think it's possible that a team picks him up on waivers as their fourth-line centre, but the $2.4 million AAV for the next two seasons is a little rich.
Although it's rich like I mentioned, there are a handful of teams that could use a veteran centre on their roster who have plenty of cap space. With the salary cap rising this year and next year, a $2.4M fourth-liner doesn't look as bad as it once did, so I feel like there's a market for Kampf, just not in Toronto.
Here are three landing spots for Kampf:
No. 1: Buffalo Sabres
I can't imagine being a Buffalo Sabres fan. If you thought being a Leafs fan was hard, the Sabres haven't made the playoffs in 14 years. As a result, this dumpster fire seems like the perfect destination for Kampf, as the team has a little bit of cap space and could use a fourth-line centre.
The Sabres defenseman is arguably one of the better young defensive groups as they have Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Bowen Byram, but unfortunately the team doesn't have much offensive prowess after Alex Tuch, Josh Norris, Tage Thompson. Buffalo may not be the sexiest market but I'm shocked this franchise hasn't been able to draft and develop a better team with so many high draft picks.
I mean, I guess they've done a good job at drafting, as they've selected forwards such as Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittlestadt, Brandon Hagel, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, but they've unfortunately had a hard time keeping them. Reinhart and Eichel should have been a powerful first-line, but instead they left. Either way, Kampf could find his way not too far away from Toronto in Buffalo.