Despite the rocky way his tenure as a Leaf ended, David Kampf was nothing but grateful to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and their fans after signing a one-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Kampf bid farewell to the team and fans on Sunday after he parted ways with the Leafs and signed a deal to take his talents out west.

Kampf referred to his time in Toronto as a ‘pleasure’ while acknowledging that the time had come to start fresh somewhere else.

“A great chapter of my life but the time has come to move on,” Kampf said in the post. “I gave everything I had to this organization and city and I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity I got here. Thank you to all my teammates I got to spend those years with I wish you guys all the best. Also, special thank you to each and every one of the Leafs staff for taking care of me and my family through the years. Toronto will always have a special place in our hearts. Excited for the future with Canucks!”

Kampf was originally signed by the Maple Leafs prior to the 2021-22 season, and for a few years he was one of the team’s more underappreciated forwards, but between the extension he signed following the 2022-23 season and Craig Berube taking over as head coach from Sheldon Keefe, his time in Toronto spiraled pretty quickly. He went from being one of the team’s top penalty killers and shutdown forwards to falling out of favour with Berube and only appearing in one Stanley Cup Playoffs game this past season.

Kampf didn’t crack the Maple Leafs’ roster out of training camp and appeared in four games with the Toronto Marlies, recording one assist, before he refused to report to the team which prompted the contract termination and subsequent signing with the Canucks.