Sheldon Keefe made a sneaky, easily overlooked lineup decision over the weekend in Montreal.
The Toronto Maple Leafs coach slotted David Kämpf in as the team’s third-line centre, something he’s done only a few times all season.
New look Leafs lines at morning skate in Montreal:
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Nylander
Domi-Tavares-Jarnkrok
Knies-Kämpf-McMann
Holmberg-Dewar-ReavesBrodie-McCabe
Rielly-Lyubushkin
Edmundson-Liljegren
Benoit-Timmins— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) March 9, 2024
Kämpf had been the Leafs’ 3C for most of his first two seasons in Toronto, but rarely in this season.
The Leafs tried William Nylander there in a quickly aborted flash at training camp. They tried a teenager, Fraser Minten, there briefly to start the regular season. For an extended period, Max Domi occupied that spot in the lineup. Then, more recently and more surprisingly, John Tavares.
Advertisement
The instability there is what seemed to make acquiring a legit top-nine centre a priority for Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. They opted not to pay a first-round pick for Adam Henrique, though, and couldn’t come up with the assets to land Alex Wennberg.
Which left it up to Keefe to figure something out, something more workable than what the Leafs were doing previously, before the playoffs begin in mid-April.
And where Keefe may have landed is with Kämpf reclaiming a more prominent role.
Kämpf logged 17.5 minutes on Saturday, third among Leaf forwards, trailing only Auston Matthews and Nylander. Kämpf played a full minute more at five-on-five than Tavares. (He also logged almost 17 minutes in Boston two nights earlier.)
And why was that?
It’s because Keefe had Kämpf return to his old janitorial duties on a line with Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies. That threesome lined up for a team-high eight defensive-zone draws against the Canadiens, more than the other three units combined.
Crucially, the top line of Matthews, Nylander and Tyler Bertuzzi lined up for just one.
The Kämpf crew played nearly as much (11:58) as the Matthews line (12:10) and did what Kämpf lines used to do at their best: They dug their way out of quicksand, finishing the night with an expected goals mark of 72 percent. They also combined to score the Leafs’ first goal.
In other words, a legitimate success. (Kämpf seems to need two hard-skating wingers by his side to do this work. Knies and McMann fit that bill.)
It’s an intriguing pivot from the Leafs coach, with an apparent eye on playoff hockey.
What’s so interesting about it is the Leafs appeared set on not going this route from the jump. From Nylander to Minten to Domi to Tavares, the Leafs had mostly resisted 3C Kämpf all year. (He played a handful of games there in October and early November before it was finally ditched entirely.) Clearly, they wanted a third line that could score, even a little, which meant not having the offensively limited Kämpf there.
Advertisement
None of it really worked, though. And so, absent another outside addition at centre — a top-nine centre, that is (i.e. not Connor Dewar) — the Leafs coach had a decision: He could keep on with Domi or Tavares as the 3C, which was increasing the load on Matthews (more on that in a second), or he could push Kämpf back into the spotlight.
He may be opting for the latter.
Rewind to the spring of 2022: It was Kämpf playing the 3C role for the Leafs in the first round against Tampa, and playing it pretty well.
Kämpf played the third-most five-on-five minutes of any Leaf forward in that seven-game series. He was buried with a capital B: His offensive zone faceoff percentage was about 14 percent.
The Leafs still won 53 percent of the expected goals when he was out there, yielding only two actual goals on the scoreboard while scoring two at the other end.
Kämpf himself scored twice in the series, which the Leafs lost by a hair in seven games.
Keefe might just decide the offensive limitations that come with having Kämpf in the middle of the third line are outweighed by the defensive upside — i.e. not getting scored on.
Last spring, the Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly ahead of the trade deadline so there was no need for Kämpf to play 3C minutes. Absent O’Reilly, absent any kind of upgrade at the deadline, the Leafs and their coach may be looking back to Kämpf, hoping he can rise once again when it matters.
Points
1. Kämpf is averaging 13 minutes per game this season, down a full two minutes from his first two seasons in Toronto. It’s not been a very good season to this point for the 29-year-old, who is in the first year of a pricey four-year contract. Things have been looking up in recent weeks, though. Since the beginning of February, the Leafs have outscored teams 7-3 with Kämpf on the ice at five-on-five. They’ve had more shots, shot attempts, scoring chances and a spiffy expected-goals mark of 60 percent. In short, Kämpf was earning a chance to do more.
Advertisement
2. A Kämpf who can do more should help Matthews, who’s been missing his usual zip of late.
The Leafs’ best player has one goal and one assist in his last five outings and was especially quiet in Montreal. For the two weeks or so that Domi was occupying the 2C spot, the Leafs were asking the Matthews line to shoulder an even heavier burden than usual. For one seven-game stretch, Matthews had lined up for more five-on-five draws in the defensive zone (28) than offensive zone (19). His offensive zone faceoff percentage during that stretch (Feb. 17 to Mar. 1) was 40 percent, lower than even Kämpf’s. The coaching staff has since pivoted: Matthews has lined up for a total of seven defensive zone faceoffs at five-on-five over the last four games. A Kämpf who can swallow up more of the defensive load allows Matthews to start more on offence.
3. Keefe returned Tavares to the 2C gig on Saturday. The Leafs captain played just over 14 minutes though, his second-lowest total of the season. He logged under three minutes in the third period compared to around seven minutes for both Matthews and Kämpf.
4. Mitch Marner missed Saturday’s game in Montreal. He appeared to injure his right foot on this play in Boston:
Marner immediately grabbed at his foot in the aftermath, which appeared to twist upon landing with the ice.
5. Keefe will have some interesting decisions to make whenever Marner returns. One is whether to give Bertuzzi a longer look with Marner and Matthews. That combination, shelved early this season, flashed some potential when they reunited in Boston.
If so, does that also mean giving Domi, Tavares and Nylander another go? They, too, started the season together. Domi was quickly dropped from the line because of issues with puck management and defence. If they do get another shot, which two wingers among Knies, McMann and Calle Järnkrok will play with Kämpf? McMann potted his 10th goal of the season in Montreal, but I wonder if the more sustainable look sees him return to a fourth line with, say, Dewar and one of Pontus Holmberg or Ryan Reaves.
Advertisement
Like so:
Bertuzzi — Matthews — Marner
Domi — Tavares — Nylander
Knies — Kämpf — Järnkrok
McMann — Dewar — Holmberg/Reaves
Then again, Knies has scored three goals in his last 30 games, so maybe McMann deserves the edge at this point.
6. McMann’s season turned on Feb. 13, the night he was supposed to be a healthy scratch but potted a hat trick instead. He’s scored five goals and added three assists in 13 games since. I wondered if something clicked for him after that night, if he suddenly felt like he could do more at the NHL level. “I’d love to say that it did. But no,” McMann said. “Nothing clicked, but you could call it more confidence. Not that I necessarily felt it, I just decided to stick with the same game and same approach that I’ve taken to every game and trust that the process is going to work. And eventually, I hit it off and got a hat trick. And yeah, maybe the confidence is a little bit higher on the ice to make those plays. But nothing, like, necessarily, ‘OK, now it’s good, now it’s ready.’”
7. Timothy Liljegren is an interesting person to watch in the wake of the Joel Edmundson addition. But I think the more important area of focus on the Leaf blue line is the reunited combo of TJ Brodie and Jake McCabe. Not adding an impactful top-four defender at the deadline leaves it up to Brodie and McCabe to handle the most difficult minutes for the Leafs once again, as they did for most of the second half and playoffs last season. It went well against the young Habs: The Leafs won 60 percent of the scoring chances in the 15 minutes that Brodie and McCabe played together.
A crucial difference from last season, of course: Brodie is on the left this time, while McCabe plays the right. Another difference: McCabe now has playoff experience.
The Leafs need it to work this time.
Advertisement
8. Edmundson always felt like a possible Simon Benoit upgrade. The last week didn’t help Benoit’s case for staying in the lineup. Benoit played three games, including a pair against Boston. Shot attempts were 48-31 for the opposition. Scoring chances were 23-11, also for the Leafs’ opponents. Edmundson is like a super-sized version of Benoit: A little bigger, a little better, a lot more experienced.
9. One stat I’m not sure what to make of: The Leafs leader in five-on-five goals saved above expected? Not Joseph Woll, not Ilya Samsonov, but Martin Jones.
| Player | GSAX | SV% |
|---|---|---|
9.4 | .925 | |
1.2 | .910 | |
-0.4 | .902 |
— Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, Evolving Hockey and Hockey Reference
(Top photo of David Kämpf: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)