Things seem to be pointing to a resolution between the Toronto Maple Leafs and David Kampf soon
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Next Ninety One: Leo Carlsson episode on the David Kampf, Toronto Maple Leafs contract situation, and if they mutually terminate his contract, what about the $1.25 million signing bonus that was already paid out?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “By the way, Toronto, we should get clarity on this David Kampf thing pretty soon.
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Kyle Bukauskas: “Okay, yeah, because you were saying on Saturday, now the signing bonuses is a sticking point here when looking at the idea or the possibility of terminating the contract. So how does it all work?
Friedman: “So he had a signing bonus of, I think it’s a million and a quarter, and it was paid earlier this summer. And what there is in some contracts is there’s something called claw-back language, and it allows the team to seek the return of a signing bonus if the player terminates the deal.
And for if you’re wondering why it’s there, it’s kind of obvious. It protects against the player quitting once his signing bonus is paid, and gives the team a route to seek it back, right back in the contract.
And basically, if Kampf was to terminate, the Maple Leafs would get two years of cap flexibility, right? Because they basically get his entire contract wiped out, and the cap hit. And the cap hit, like is at AAV is $2.4 (minors. In the minors, you get to take a little over a million of that off. So you get a couple years of savings.
And the league could argue, and I suspect the league has probably poked their head around this and said, ‘You get two years of CAP freedom, basically by paying a player about $1.3 million.’ So you should ask for that money back. And also, if you have claw-back language in there, then the league is going to say, you put the language in there, you should use it.
Now, I have no doubt the Players Association would argue the other side, it’s their job to protect the player here. But 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 claw-back 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.’ So that’s another one of the reasons I think this has taken longer than people thought or expected.
Bukauskas: “Now is that claw-back language, is that pretty standard in any player contract across the league, or is that more case by case, organizationally, whatever their philosophy is on that stuff?
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Friedman: “I am under the impression it is, case by case. It’s I asked if it was standard, and I was told no. But there are teams, I don’t know if it’s every team, but I know there are teams that it’s standard. If they give you bonuses, they put claw-back language in there.”
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