A sports betting site this week listed Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell as the favourite to win the Vézina Trophy.Geneva Heffernan/The Associated Press
He flips. He flops. He jumps. He drops. He dives. He stops.
It is all in a night’s work for Jack Campbell.
The Maple Leafs’ goalie turned 30 this week and has never been better.
For the most part, he bounced around the minors for the better part of a decade without getting much of an opportunity in the NHL.
There were stops in Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie and Cedar Park, Tex., and Boise, Idaho before he finally got to Ontario – the one in California as opposed to Canada.
He had a bit of a look-see in Los Angeles before he landed in Toronto in 2020 as a backup to Frederik Andersen and began an improbable rise. On Thursday, nearly a dozen years after his odyssey began as a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Stars, Campbell was selected to play in the NHL all-star game.
On Feb. 5 in Las Vegas he will split time in the Atlantic Division team’s net with Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Campbell has been so spectacular that a sports betting site this week listed him as the favourite to win the Vézina Trophy ahead of Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers and Vasilevskiy, who won the top goalkeeping award in 2019. “I always had the belief that I could do what I am doing right now,” Campbell said on Friday. “It took 12 years, but it was worth it. This is just the beginning and I know I could be a lot better.”
Campbell a calm presence in midst of Maple Leaf whirlwind
Jack Campbell’s early season play has been a stabilizing influence for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Campbell was traded to the Maple Leafs by Los Angeles along with Kyle Clifford and a draft pick in exchange for centre Trevor Moore. The latter has played well for the Kings – but at this point the deal is a steal.
In his first full season as a starter, Campbell ranks in the top three among goaltenders in wins (18), goals-against-average (2.02) and save percentage (. 935).
He and Auston Matthews, who will serve as captain of the Atlantic Division squad, have easily been Toronto’s most-valuable players during a 23-9-3 start.
“Jack has been our rock,” Mitch Marner, the Maple Leafs’ playmaker, said after the team’s practice in Arizona on Friday. Marner, who has had COVID-19, will be back in the lineup on Saturday in St. Louis and Campbell will be in the crease. “It was great to see him get the recognition he deserves.”
Campbell had 30 NHL victories before he joined the Maple Leafs and has gone 35-8-3 since. He established a league record with 11 consecutive wins at the start of last season and, if anything, has been better in 2021-22.
“I don’t know if I have any more words to describe how well he’s played for us all,” Matthews said Wednesday after a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes. “Every single night he gives us a chance to win. That’s really all you can ask.”
Campbell has won more games in each of the past four years and has proved to be more effective the more he has played.
“The big question coming in for him was: Can he stay healthy?” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But despite the workload, there hasn’t been a time where he has felt unable to practise or has been sore or anything like that.”
Campbell had 30 NHL victories before he joined the Maple Leafs and has gone 35-8-3 since.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Campbell will seek a career-high 19th victory against the Blues, who are 22-10-5 after a victory on Thursday over Seattle. Marner and Pierre Engvall, who also had COVID-19, will make a welcome return – just as teammates Justin Holl, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie have been added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list. A total of 20 Maple Leaf players have entered the protocol since the team struggled through its outbreak last month.
Campbell played a round of golf in Arizona on Thursday, a day off for the team in the midst of a prolonged trip. When he returned to the hotel, he learned he had made the all-star team.
“Statistically speaking I had a good feeling about it, but you never know,” Campbell said. “It is an incredible honour and I was excited for sure. I can’t wait to meet guys from around the league that I have played against but don’t know. I am excited to meet everybody.”
It has been a long and rocky road from 2010 when he was drafted until now. Sometimes it just takes a while to find a home.
“When I came to Toronto, I feel I got the opportunity to show what I can do,” Campbell said.