The Toronto Maple Leafs want to get better and shed the narrative that they are just gearing up for another playoff disappointment. To do that, they have already made substantial changes to their roster -- but could there be more coming?
On Wednesday, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving appeared on Sportsnet's Kyper and Bourne and delved into the makeup of the roster after making some recent additions.
"When you look at our roster now, you have Nic Roy, who can take a lot of defensive heavy lifting with defensive-zone starts, defensive faceoffs, and matchups. When you put those into a pot, it allows you to not necessarily get lost on your 1-2-3 but spread out matchups and situational play that could free up different people when we talk about Auston, John, and Scotty Laughton," said Treliving.
Well, that's a little telling. Treliving may not have meant it, but he essentially confirmed that right now, with the players actually on the roster, they envision the center depth to be Auston Matthews and John Tavares in the top six, and then newcomer Nic Roy and Scott Laughton to fill out the rest of the depth down the middle.
That is perfectly understandable, but now we have to wonder: Where does that leave David Kampf? While other forwards that did play center for the Leafs last season, like Max Domi, could just be one-way wingers and might even be better off not having the burden of responsibility in the middle of the ice, Kampf is strictly a center.
The 30-year-old Czech forward has two years left on his contract that carries a $2.4 million AAV. It isn't the most movable contract, but some team could certainly not be upset if he is their fourth-line center if they're comfortable with him being effective only on the defensive side of the puck. Could it be for a late-round pick? Ideally. Maybe a straight dump for future considerations? That's fine. Where it gets tricky is if he has such low value around the league that a future draft pick needs to be attached to the defensive center to get rid of him.
At that point, if they need to attach assets, then it might just make sense to keep him for depth and put him down in the AHL. A total of $1.05 million of Kampf's cap hit will come off their books and be buried in minors, so even if the Leafs send the center going down through waivers, it would mean a total of $1.35 million of dead cap on their books. That's the worst-case scenario and it's not that harmful if it means a better hockey team.
Teams always need center depth, so not moving Kampf wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but he should be maybe several spots down the depth chart. So, could we see a trade, maybe? Give us some action.