There is some talk that the Oilers could make an enormous Jack Campbell decision
When the Edmonton Oilers put pen to paper with Jack Campbell on a 5-year, $25M contract this summer, it was thought that the Oilers had solved their goaltending issues and that Campbell could be the missing piece in Oil country. After all, the only season in which Campbell had posted a SV% below .900 was when he played 1 game for the Dallas Stars, making his NHL debut in 2013-14, posting a .872 SV% in his only start of the season.
As fate would have it, an identical .872 SV% is what Campbell owns this season - only it's not one game this time. It's 13 games and a 7-6-0 record. It has led to a number of discussions on what the Oilers should do with Campbell, who has 4 years remaining on his deal after this one at a lofty $5M per season.
There is talk among the various fanbases that the Oilers should simply buy out Jack Campbell this summer. IF the Oilers wanted to go that route - and that's a big IF - it would cost them $13.833M over the next 8 years, with his buyout cap hit ranging between $1.41M and $2.64M, depending on the year. It would also save them a total of $6.166M in cap space over the term of the buyout per CapFriendly.
The other option here, which was discussed by Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor on Friday, would be for the Oilers to simply send Campbell to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors and hopes that he finds his game. This one is not as far-fetched as a buyout proposal, as we saw earlier this week when the LA Kings waived newly-signed goaltender Cal Petersen and his $5M AAV, assigning him to the AHL's Ontario Reign.
One thing is for sure - something has to change with Jack Campbell in Edmonton. He needs to find his game. While backup Stuart Skinner has played well for the Oilers thus far, the stakes are too high for the Oilers to continue to roll out Campbell, hoping that he sorts it out at the NHL level. He hasn't shown any signs of turning his season around at the quarter mark of the season and, as we saw last year with the Leafs, when his confidence is low, his play suffers immensely. It will be interesting to see what the Oilers have planned for Campbell this month.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 3 | 807 ANSWERS There is some talk that the Oilers could make an enormous Jack Campbell decision Will the Oilers waive Jack Campbell and assign him to the AHL? | ||
| Yes | 647 | 80.2 % |
| No | 160 | 19.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
