Coming off of several seasons of Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen, the Edmonton Oilers were in dire need of a fresh face in goal this summer and they got just that in former Leafs netminder Jack Campbell, whom they inked to a 5-year, $25M deal on July 13th.
In terms of what to expect from Campbell, it's really anyone's guess how he handles his new assignment. For Connor McDavid, however, he has no doubt in his mind that Campbell can come in and do the job as good as anyone can - especially because of where he's coming from. He confirmed as much to TSN from a charity golf tournament in Toronto on Monday.
Last season was a wildly inconsistent one for the 30-year-old netminder. He was able to post a .914 SV% in 49 appearances, but played nearly 4 months of sub-.900 goaltending. Were it not for a Vezina-caliber start and a decent finish to his regular season, that .914 is much, much lower. Campbell did not fair much better in the postseason, putting up a .897 SV% across 7 contests against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a series so close that it was anyone's game right down to the bitter end. One more save, one less goal, and the outcome of that series very well could have been different.
The Oilers certainly aren't getting a dud in Jack Campbell, but I worry that the Oilers' porous defense won't hold up and provide him with nearly as much support as he had last season in Toronto with a vastly superior Leafs' defense. The Leafs may not have the number one D in the league, but it's leagues better than Edmonton's.
