The situation between the Toronto Maple Leafs and David Kämpf has become more complicated.
The Maple Leafs have suspended the forward without pay since Nov. 2 for leaving their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, Sportsnet can confirm.
PuckPedia was first to report the news on Thursday.
Due to the suspension, the Maple Leafs are not currently incurring his $1.25-million buried cap charge while he’s in the minors.
Per PuckPedia, the expectation is that the situation will be resolved soon — whether that’s by him reporting back, a mutual contract termination, or a trade.
This comes after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman discussed the latest on Kämpf’s situation during the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada on Nov. 1.
“David Kämpf is taking a couple days to kind of think about his future,” Friedman said. Obviously, he’s not playing with the Maple Leafs right now; he’s in a bit of a roster and salary cap crunch situation, and he got a little bit frustrated. I think everybody understands he wants to play in the NHL and he’s an NHL player — it’s a roster and cap crunch that has him down there.”
The 30-year-old Czech, who was waived before the start of the season, has one assist in four games with the Marlies after posting eight goals and 11 assists in 59 games with the Maple Leafs last season.
Across 536 career NHL games with Toronto and the Chicago Blackhawks, he has 143 points (48 goals and 95 assists).
Kämpf has another season remaining on the four-year, $9.6-million deal general manager Brad Treliving signed him to in 2023. He’s due a $1.35-million signing bonus on July 1.
“He doesn’t feel like he wants to be down there, so that’s his decision on what he does,” Toronto head coach Craig Berube told reporters on Monday. “That’s not for me to answer. That is all for him and Brad (Treliving) to figure out. I don’t have a whole lot to say on that situation.
“We have too many players, and we’ve got to make decisions. Him going down to the minors, and he doesn’t feel like he wants to be down there. So, that’s his decision on what he does. That’s not for me to answer. That’s all Brad and him to figure that out.”
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