Kampf was a healthy scratch for the first time as a Leaf in the team's loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Kampf was a healthy scratch for the first time as a Leaf in the team's loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe dropped a bit of a bombshell when he announced in his pre-game availability that defensive center David Kampf would be a healthy scratch against the Carolina Hurricanes.
David's Wife, Eliska, took to Instagram to post about her husband's consecutive games streak of 323 coming to an end.
Before the game, Keefe reasoned that there was going to be less tolerance for defensive issues suffered like the ones that occurred in the team's 6-5 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. In that game, Kampf was on the ice for a key turnover that led to Blue Jackets forward Adam Fantilli scoring the tying goal in the third period.
Kampf missed his first game as a Leafs on Saturday as a result. It was also the first game he missed in five NHL seasons. And although the team played a fairly clean game despite losing 3-2 to the Hurricanes, Toronto did surrender two power-play goals and Kampf usually plays on the top penalty-killing unit.
When asked if he had any regrets about benching Kampf given the power-play goals for Carolina, Keefe simply answered "no".
The Maple Leafs get ready to embark on a three-game road trip to California to begin 2024 and it would be a surprise to see Kampf benched beyond this single game.
Kampf's penalty-killing ability certainly could have been helpful in Toronto's case.
"A lot of different guys have played penalty kill, it's no excuse," Mark Giordano said of Kampf's absence on the PK. "We just have to bear down and get the kill."
The 28-year-old joined the Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2021 and signed a four-year, $9.6 million contract extension in June. He has 22 goals and 38 assists in 197 games with Toronto.
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