{"id":790345,"date":"2026-07-09T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790345\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:00:34","slug":"why-former-maple-leafs-forward-chose-czechia-over-nhl-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790345\/","title":{"rendered":"Why former Maple Leafs forward chose Czechia over NHL return"},"content":{"rendered":"

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David Kampf is taking his sticks, gear \u2014 and millions of dollars \u2014 and going home.<\/p>\n

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The former Toronto Maple Leafs centre is headed back to his home country of Czechia after signing on to play with Litvinov.<\/p>\n

Kampf played four seasons with the Maple Leafs, capably filling the role as the team\u2019s fourth-line centre before becoming a healthy scratch during the playoffs in 2025, after the club had acquired Scott Laughton at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

His contract ($9.6 million over four years) became a point of contention amongst Leaf Nation, with many feeling that his AAV of $2.4 million could\u2019ve been better allocated elsewhere in the lineup.<\/p>\n

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While Kampf made $12.75 million US through his nine-year NHL career<\/a>, he said that he felt it like it was time to return to his home country and that he was no longer \u201cenjoying\u201d playing hockey.<\/p>\n

What did Kampf say about leaving the NHL?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018ve been thinking about returning to the Czech Republic for a long time, it was nine demanding years overseas. I felt that the time had come to return home and find a team near where I live,\u201d Kampf told the team\u2019s website<\/a>, as translated from his native language.<\/p>\n

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\u201cChomutov plays in the first league, so I decided on Litv\u00ednov, which I\u2019ve had a relationship with since childhood, when I went to games there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the NHL, it\u2019s been more of a job for me in recent years, I didn\u2019t really enjoy hockey. I\u2019m looking forward to getting more space here, gaining new momentum and having fun with hockey again.<\/p>\n

Kampf added that getting the opportunity to play alongside the brothers David and Ondrej Kase, his friends \u201csince childhood\u201d was another reason for returning to Czechia.<\/p>\n

Jiri Slegr, a retired NHL defence who now serves as the chairman on the club\u2019s board of directors, said that adding Kampf is a \u201chuge boost\u201d for Litv\u00ednov and the entire league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge boost for us and great news not only for Litv\u00ednov, but for the entire Extraliga,\u201d he told the team\u2019s website. \u201cAcquiring a player of David\u2019s stature, who is coming from the NHL in his prime, is extremely valuable for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid is a complex forward, leader and professional who will immediately raise the quality of our team to a completely different level. We are thrilled that he has decided to link his future with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content David Kampf is taking his sticks, gear \u2014 and millions of dollars \u2014 and going home.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-790345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}