This isn't the situation he wanted to see to get his chance to play again, but Kampfer is prepared to do whatever he can to help the club while captain Zdeno Chara recuperates from a lower-body injury.
"You're always ready to go," Kampfer said after practice at Ristuccia Arena on Monday. "Obviously you don't want somebody to go down [injured] to get a chance to play, but you've just got to go in, play your game and try to help this team get some points."
Kampfer won't get a chance to play with Chara, but he will get an opportunity to show what he's learned from watching Chara and the other regulars on the blue line from his vantage point up in the press box as a healthy scratch for the bulk of the season.
"I've been practicing with the team, watching the games," Kampfer said. "You pick up on the little things that Zee does out on the ice or Seids [Dennis Seidenberg], and you learn from that. It's a learning experience when you're sitting up there [in the press box] and you're picking up part of the game that maybe you didn't have before and you can try to incorporate into your game. So it's going to be a good test to see how much I learned up there."
Kampfer's teammates aren't worried about his ability to step in and contribute.
"Kamps has experience," Seidenberg said. "He's a good skater. He's a good player. I don't think we have to be worried about who's stepping in.
"If there's a positive to [Chara's injury], it's a chance to get guys like Kamps back into the game and give them some ice time," Seidenberg added. "Get them into some game situations, that's the only positive I can take out of it. Other than that, it's about us stepping up and just try to prove to everybody than we can execute without him."
Kampfer played 38 games with the big club in his first professional season last year, but this season he's played in just five games. A preseason knee injury delayed his start to the season, and he's primarily been a scratch with the Bruins healthy on the blue line.
Kampfer last played Nov. 17 against Columbus, but he has kept himself ready with extra work after practice. And the Bruins gave him some game action in Providence earlier this month when he and forward Jordan Caron were sent down for a pair of games.
"I definitely think I've stayed sharp enough," Kampfer said. "Playing in Providence helped, but even practicing up here is a different element of getting ready. I think coming into [Tuesday] will be good, get into the lineup and play my game. I don't think there'll be as much rust as there was when I was coming back from the knee injury because finally I'm 100 percent. I feel good skating-wise and I don't have to worry about tweaking that, so it will be good."
Bruins coach Claude Julien also feels that Kampfer will be up for the challenge of returning to the lineup.
"The fact that he played a few games as well is good for him," Julien said. "It was good for Jordan. Jordan came in and it certainly helped him just kind of slide in there [when he replaced Tyler Seguin in Winnipeg last Tuesday and Daniel Paille in Columbus on Saturday]. We hope that Steven's situation will be the same. He's ready. He's worked hard. We do extra with him almost every day. There's no reason for him to be out of shape. We've made sure of that."
Kampfer was paired with Chara's usual partner Johnny Boychuk in Monday's practice, allowing Seidenberg and Joe Corvo to stay together and Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid to remain as a pairing. Boychuk and Kampfer won't log nearly the ice time that Boychuk and Chara normally would, but teaming Kampfer with Boychuk should help ease his transition back into the lineup.
"Playing with Johnny, I've got a good veteran guy to play with," Kampfer said. "So it's going to be a good situation for me to join the rush and play my game."
Photo via Flickr/bridgetds
