Jack Campbell’s Woes Continue in First AHL Start Following Demotion
It’s not fun to be an Edmonton Oilers fan right now.
Amidst a nightmare start, the franchise officially hit rock-bottom Thursday night after an embarrassing 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center. With it, both clubs now sit tied for the fewest points in the league.
If that weren’t enough, things didn’t turn out much better for the organization’s AHL affiliate a night ago, which also endured a forgettable performance.
Jack Campbell, demoted earlier this week after clearing waivers, returned to the crease as the Bakersfield Condors visited the Abbotsford Canucks – Vancouver’s affiliate. But the struggling 31-year-old netminder failed to improve on his 4.50 GAA and .873 SV% in five games with the Oilers on the year.
The 6-foot-3 goaltender was on the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat, allowing four goals on just 20 shots against, three of which came on Abbostford’s first 11 shots on net. Granted, he didn’t receive much support from his new teammates though.
With the Condors leading 1-0 in the first period, Campbell was tasked with stopping Nils Aman’s shorthanded breakaway attempt, which he did successfully. But not without allowing an opportunistic rebound for his opponent, a chance he didn’t waste and buried in the back of the net.
Another shorthanded goal found its way past Campbell in the middle frame, this time from Sheldon Dries, who put the Canucks up 2-1 less than three minutes into the period. And his nightmare outing continued to snowball from there.
Nearing the midway mark of the frame, Aman potted his second of the night, albeit on a low-percentage shot attempt that had no business of crossing the goal line, only for the former Oilers goaltender to have it bounce over his left pad.
The Port Huron, Michigan, native surrendered his third goal of the second period – fourth overall – at the 15:36 mark, a deficit Bakersfield couldn’t overcome as the team failed to light the lamp more than once.
A player’s process is often more important than their results. But for Campbell, there weren’t many positives – if any – to take away from his first AHL start since the 2018-19 season.
“Tonight was just about getting out there, a lot of emotions, a lot of nerves,” Campbell said of his performance post-game. “I wanted to do well, didn’t quite go as planned, but you know, for me it’s just about staying with my details.”
“I have some things I have to keep working on to get to the next level in my game. That doesn’t change whether I’m here or up in the NHL.”
The decision to place Campbell on waivers was shocking, especially considering he had outperformed his tandem partner Stuart Skinner, who ranks last out of 72 NHL goalies in Goals Saved Above Expected (-8.4) this season.
Campbell, however, was only marginally better, as he currently sits 64th (-3.8) in that regard. With no team likely to claim him, mainly due to his daunting $5 million cap hit, he was the easy choice to remove from the equation.
Still, that didn’t do his confidence level any favours, which has already been well-documented as a point of concern.
“Pretty surprised, not gonna lie. You know, it’s not been fun up there so far this year. We’re working through it and obviously looking to get the results going, and hearing the news was very difficult,” Campbell said.
Joining Edmonton on a lucrative five-year, $25-million contract in free agency hasn’t gone according to plan for the team or Campbell, who owns a 3.53 GAA and .886 SV% across 41 career games over his first two seasons out West.
But with three years left on his deal after this season, all anyone can hope is he re-discovers his game at the AHL level while the Oilers search for answers in net as their playoff hopes continue to dwindle.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.