The Toronto Maple Leafs could be terminating the contract of disgruntled forward David Kampf as soon as this weekend, insider David Pagnotta claims.
Pagnotta, during the November 7 edition of Daily Faceoff Live, floated the idea that the Maple Leafs could terminate Kampf’s contract soon, unless a trade could be worked out.
Per Pagnotta, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving has been working hard to trade Kampf for a “decent type of asset.” That statement signals that the Leafs don’t want to dump Kampf’s contract for a late-round pick or even a “player to be named later.”
Treliving’s efforts have honed in on landing a piece that could deliver some value to the club. That piece could mean a mid-tier prospect or perhaps a lower-round pick. However, it doesn’t seem like such a deal is in the works.
As such, Pagnotta stated:
“Treliving has been looking around for a while. The sense that I’ve gotten is that he hasn’t really wanted to just give these guys away. He hasn’t wanted to just take a seventh-round pick and call it a day. He’s wanted some decent type of asset coming back, for whatever the reason.”
The Leafs’ reluctance to just take a seventh-rounder for Kampf has brought the situation to a head. Pagnotta believes that if Treliving can’t get the deal he wants, there may be no choice left.
“I think with the Leafs, they’re going to continue to see what’s going on here, but it seems like if we don’t get a resolution today or by the end of the weekend, they’ll just rip it up say that it hasn’t worked, we’ll save the money. Go out there and find a new deal somewhere else.”
There’s no telling if and when the Maple Leafs might be able to get anything substantial for Kampf. But if they can’t, the Maple Leafs may resort to cutting ties with Kampf, making him a UFA.
Maple Leafs trying to avoid bad optics from contract termination
Any way you slice it, terminating David Kampf’s contract would be terrible optics for the Maple Leafs.
In particular, it would send a negative message to free agents about how the Maple Leafs do business. That’s why trading Kampf would be far more palatable than terminating his contract.
A trade, while not exactly the most glamorous way out, at least signals the organization is willing to help a player get back on track elsewhere.
But a termination sends a message that the team is prepared to dump a player if it can’t get the right deal it wants.
Ultimately, the Maple Leafs could have avoided this situation with Kampf. The team should have traded him as soon as it realized he wasn’t part of its plans. But the Maple Leafs didn’t, and painted themselves into a corner.
For the sake of the Maple Leafs' public perception and Kampf’s hockey career, let’s hope Treliving can swing a deal with a team willing to give up something for the beleaguered forward.