Vancouver Canucks sign David Kämpf

The Vancouver Canucks announced Saturday that they have gone out and signed centre David Kämpf to a one-year $1.1 million contract.

Kämpf was placed on unconditional waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday for the purpose of contract termination after he was waived by the team before the start of the season, and started the year with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL before taking a leave of absence.

Kämpf actually began his tenure with the Maple Leafs strong, posting seasons of 26 and 27 points, before falling to just 19 points in 2023-2024 and 13 points in 59 games last year. His role as a two-way depth centre is what made him valuable, as he averaged over 15 minutes of ice time per game in his first two seasons with the Maple Leafs, but that dropped to just 13:29 in 2023-2024, and 12:24 last season.

What are the Canucks getting?

Kämpf’s play style can be described as a low-risk depth lineup option, as he is known for his defensive play, face-off abilities and penalty killing. The centre’s career face-off percentage is 51.4%, and he has six straight seasons of at least a 50.9% success rate in the face-off circle.

Another part of Kämpf’s game that also stands out are his giveaways and takeaways, as he had never had a season with more giveaways than takeaways until last season. For his career, he has 243 takeaways and just 140 giveaways, but last year had just 17 takeaways and 30 giveaways, a troubling development for a defence first player.

Perhaps what Kämpf needs is a change in scenery in order to get his game back on track, and the Canucks certainly offer the best opportunity for him to do so given their long list of injuries. There is no official word on what role he will be occupying, but one has to believe that he will be thrust into either the 2C or 3C role to start, will see penalty kill time and will be taking key face-offs.