Vancouver Canucks interested in free-agent centre David Kampf: report
Another centre just hit the free agent market, and apparently, the Vancouver Canucks will be calling.
David Kampf was placed on unconditional waivers on Thursday by the Toronto Maple Leafs with the purpose of terminating his contract.
This ends the recent saga between the Leafs and the 30-year-old centre. Kampf was placed on waivers before the NHL roster deadline last month but went unclaimed.
Kampf was in the third year of a four-year contract that paid him $2.4 million per season. He was recently suspended by the Leafs organization for refusing to join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on a recent road trip.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported on Donnie and Dhali that the Canucks will be pursuing Kampf once he officially becomes a free agent tomorrow.
The Canucks’ interest in Kampf makes sense. They’re currently rolling Lukas Reichel, Aatu Räty, and Max Sasson at centre behind Elias Pettersson.
Reichel hasn’t looked good at centre. Max Sasson hasn’t been able to win many draws. It’s left Räty as their only face-off man that’s clicking above 50 per cent, while Pettersson has been tasked with the majority of defensive zone draws.
Kampf would at least give the Canucks another NHL-calibre centre, even if he is just a fringe NHLer at this point in his career.
The 30-year-old has won 51.4 per cent of faceoffs in his career. He’s only won less than 50 per cent of draws in a year once during his eight NHL seasons.
He’s also been a regular penalty killer throughout his career. During his first three seasons with the Leafs, he’s led all of their forwards in terms of ice time spent on the kill.
He would be an upgrade on what the Canucks currently have at centre, but is it really worth it for Patrik Allvin to sign him?
Kampf is basically Teddy Blueger 2.0. He’s a defensive-minded centre who can kill penalties and win draws.
Much like Blueger did in 2023 with the Vegas Golden Knights, Kampf sat as a healthy scratch in the playoffs for Toronto last season. He played just one of their 13 playoff games.
With Kampf reportedly on the Canucks radar, it’s also fair to ask: once Blueger comes back, isn’t Kampf a bit redundant?
The Canucks have to consider which forwards they want in the NHL once more guys return to health. Blueger and Nils Höglander are expected back in the coming weeks. Jonathan Lekkerimäki is already healthy and was just assigned to the Abbotsford Canucks for a conditioning assignment.
Veteran Mackenzie MacEachern will likely be the next player to be sent to Abbotsford once someone returns, or when the Canucks sign Kampf. After that, things would start to get complicated.
Assuming everyone is healthy except for Filip Chytil, and the Canucks sign Kampf, the lineup might look something like this:
Kane – Pettersson – Garland
DeBrusk – Raty – Boeser
Höglander – Blueger – Sherwood
O’Connor – Kampf – Lekkerimäki
Arshdeep Bains, Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, and Lukas Reichel would all be on the outside looking in here.
Signing Kampf would put the Canucks in a situation where Sasson is likely Abbotsford-bound. Perhaps Lekkerimäki would be as well, even if the Canucks could really use someone with his elite shot.
If the Canucks wanted to keep Lekkerimäki, the team would have to waive or trade one of Bains, Karlsson, or Reichel.
Is it worth potentially saying sayonara to one of those players just so this team could sign Kampf?