Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving was on the job for barely a month and handed David Kampf a four-year contract extension. Turns out, the contract signed in 2023 would become a problem in 2025, and it was Treliving’s worst mistake to date.

Kampf, 30, is currently suspended from the team without pay, as the Maple Leafs sent him down to the minors. The veteran centre isn’t having it and has no interest playing for the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies. Some NHL veterans take the move with a grain of salt, work hard, and try to force their way back into the NHL. Kampf decided he was going to cause quite the stink, after Treliving has spent the past few weeks trying to move the disgruntled forward.

Kampf’s contract is the hurdle. Treliving is paying Kampf $2.4 million annually through next season, and no other team is interested in that price tag. While it’s not really coming into play right now, because Kampf would play anywhere in the NHL, but the Leafs forward also has a 10-team no-trade clause, thanks to Treliving. So essentially, Kampf was not only overpaid, he was given trade protection, which shouldn’t be the case for a fourth-line centre.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman dove into the Kampf situation on Hockey Night in Canada, Saturday night, and it turns out there’s another wrinkle of Kampf’s contract that also became a snag in the process.

“He’s made it clear he doesn’t want to play in the AHL anymore …,” Friedman said during the Saturday Headlines. “I have heard one of the issues there is that he received signing bonuses. So there’s been a bit of a conversation about if this contract gets terminated and you have to return some of the signing bonus.”

Kampf is due a $1.35 million signing bonus on July 1, which means if Treliving was ever going to pull off a trade, he would of had to sweeten the pot a tremendous amount, just to counterbalance not only his remaining salary, but Kampf’s additional costs that are coming up in the offseason. That’s very likely why Kampf was sent down instead, cleared waivers, and then eventually suspended for not being willing to play in the AHL.

This writing became quite clear on the wall during the end of last season when head coach Craig Berube was losing trust in Kampf’s abilities. Kampf only appeared in one Stanley Cup Playoff game, and heading into the offseason, Kampf was a prime candidate to not be back. Add in the fact Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, and Treliving landed Nicolas Roy in the deal, it gave the Leafs the defensive-minded centre they needed to replace Kampf for good. Which, unfortunately, became a need for the team even after Scott Laughton was also acquired ahead of last season’s trade deadline.

While Laughton has struggled to find his footing as a Leaf, Roy has jumped in and made a big impact. He’s right handed, which seems like a minor detail but is so beneficially for Berube and company, and Roy has shown off some great skating abilities, above-average vision, a highly inspired game, and someone who is going to play a huge role for the hockey club moving forward. At the end of the day, Kampf’s been replaced.

On the flip side, Kampf’s extension was Treliving’s worst mistake as GM of the Maple Leafs. Treliving then had to use a first-round pick to land Laughton from the Flyers last season, and while the Marner situation was a tough one considering he chose Vegas, regardless, Treliving then zoned in on Roy, instead of a younger forward with more offensive upside, or one of the Golden Knights’ veteran defencemen.

Now, we wait to see how it all plays out, but at the end of the day Kampf’s contract became a problem given the production provided. It handcuffed Treliving on the trade market, forced him to overspend to try and replace the role, and when you also have Calle Jarnkrok in the press box making $2.1 million AAV, it’s obvious the books aren’t as clean as they could be for Maple Leafs’ management.

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