The David Kampf era with the Toronto Maple Leafs appears to be coming to a close.

Toronto announced on Thursday afternoon that they've placed the forward on waivers for the purpose of contract termination. Once Kampf clears waivers on Friday afternoon, he'll be an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any club.

The 30-year-old has been mulling over his future for the last week or so after beginning the regular season with the AHL's Toronto Marlies. He was suspended without pay during that time.

Kampf was placed on waivers at the beginning of the year and cleared, thus allowing Toronto to send the forward to the AHL. He played four games with the Marlies, tallying one assist in that span. His last game with the club was on Oct. 29 against the Syracuse Crunch.

Kampf signed a four-year, $9.6 million contract with the Maple Leafs in June 2023. This was the third year of that contract, and with him down in the AHL, Toronto still had $1.25 million of his contract on its salary cap (it disappeared while he took a leave from the Marlies).

The most recent reporting on the situation, from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, was that Toronto and Kampf's side were possibly working through clawback language within Kampf's contract.

Report: Signing Bonus A Sticking Point On Potential Maple Leafs And David Kampf Contract Termination Kampf received a signing bonus ahead of the 2025-26 season and the league may want some of that back, further complicating the player’s next move.

“There is in some contracts something called clawback language, and it allows the team to seek the return of a signing bonus if the player terminates the deal," Friedman reported. "And if you're wondering why it's there, it's kind of obvious...

"I have heard return of the signing bonus has come up in the middle of this. So I am thinking that either the Maple Leafs said, 'Hey, there's clawback language here and we're going to enforce it.' Or the league has said, 'Hey, there's language here that we want you to enforce.'"

On Thursday afternoon, Friedman reported that Kampf did not have to return any of his signing bonus before the conclusion of this situation.

In 301 games with the Maple Leafs, Kampf scored 31 goals and 85 points.

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