Maple Leafs’ David Kampf to join Czechia at IIHF Men’s World Championship

This is the second year in a row that Kämpf will play for Czechia at one of the biggest tournaments in international hockey. Last year, he scored two goals and seven points in nine games as Czechia defeated Switzerland to win the gold medal on home ice.

2025 marks the third time that the Jirkov native will be playing at the Men’s Worlds. His first go-around came in 2022, when he notched three points in six games as the Czechs beat the United States to take home the bronze.

Along with playing on the senior national stage, which includes participating in the 2016-17 EuroHockey Tour, Kämpf has also donned his nation’s colours at the 2011 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, the 2012 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the 2013 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship, as well as the 2014 and 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Kämpf will have the opportunity to face a familiar face in the quarterfinals. Czechia is due to face co-host Sweden on Thursday, pitting Kämpf against Maple Leafs teammate William Nylander, who is entering the tournament for the playoffs. The Czechs finished third in Group B, winning six of its seven preliminary-round games.

Kämpf became available to participate in the tournament after the Maple Leafs were knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, losing to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Atlantic Division Final this past Sunday. The 30-year-old only played one game during the postseason, that coming in Game 5 against the Panthers, when Toronto lost 6-1, the same final score they would be defeated by in the series finale.

That was Kämpf ‘s first game action since April 2. He reportedly suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out of action for the rest of the regular season, though he didn’t get into the lineup in the Leafs’ first-round series against the Ottawa Senators.

Kämpf scored five goals and 13 points in 59 regular-season games this year.