Insider believes David Kampf to be traded before opening night

The Toronto Maple Leafs roster for the 2024-2025 season is far from finalized and while it has been reported that Easton Cowan would have every opportunity to make the opening night roster and newly re-signed Nick Robertson playing well enough, at least for now to be part of the Maple Leafs moving forward, it creates an unfortunate logjam in the top nine and something has to give.

While there is no easy solution, it appears that the odd man out may be twenty-nine-year-old centre David Kampf. Kampf has done everything the Maple Leafs have asked of him during his three seasons with the team, but to accommodate Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz, his $2.4 million salary which he is owed for the next three seasons makes the most sense to move, even if they are required to throw in a draft pick or a prospect to help a deal be made.

If the Maple Leafs are forced to ship Kampf out of town, all will not be lost. If Pacioretty can remain healthy he is a proven goal scorer who would add some obvious and much-needed punch to the top six. In Lorentz, you'd get a versatile forward, capable of providing energy to the bottom six which is something that the team has lacked at times in recent memory.

The roster doesn't need to be finalized until shortly before puck drop on the season October 9th and while this season isn't necessarily a make-or-break season, Brad Treliving has some work to do. Not only does he need to look at the short term of this upcoming campaign, also but what's in the best interest of the franchise moving forward.