Split between Jack Campbell and the Leafs was reportedly not an amicable one, despite how it was portrayed this summer
This summer, the Leafs faced a very important decision on what they'd do to address their issues in goal ahead of the 2022-23 season. There was a large contingent of Leafs Nation who wanted Jack Campbell to remain with the team and there was an equally large contingent who felt that paying Campbell big money over a 5-year term would be a mistake.
In the end, the Buds allowed Campbell to walk via free agency, reportedly without so much as tendering an offer, and dealt Mrazek to Chicago and pivoted to Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov. Whether or not that was a mistake by the Leafs remains to be seen, but one thing was revealed by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Campbell was not happy with the Leafs and the Leafs were not happy with Campbell, regardless of how amicable the split appeared to be to the public.
It's unclear exactly what ticked the Leafs off, but I would imagine that Campbell not being willing to budge on his 5-year term or his $5M AAV was probably something that the Leafs didn't appreciate, given what we all know about their cap situation. As for Campbell, he had stated a number of times that he hoped to remain a Leaf, so perhaps the fact that the team wasn't willing to meet his demands was a bit of a let-down.
Whatever the case may be, the Leafs have moved on and so has Campbell. We won't know for a while whether or not it was a good decision for either side to not put more of an effort into finding a deal that worked for both sides.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 15 | 583 ANSWERS Split between Jack Campbell and the Leafs was reportedly not an amicable one, despite how it was portrayed this summer Would you have preferred Campbell at $5Mx5 years over Matt Murray at $4.68Mx2 years? | ||
| Yes, we should have paid Campbell 5x5 | 224 | 38.4 % |
| No, Murray is the lower risk contract | 359 | 61.6 % |
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