How a desire for accountability led Campbell to a career in coaching
Earlier this week, Jack Campbell announced that he was retiring from professional hockey after a nine-year NHL career that saw him dress for 176 regular-season games with the Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers.
His best statistical season came with the Leafs in 2021-22, where he posted a 31-9-6 record with a .914 save percentage (SV%) and 2.64 goals against average (GAA) in 49 games, leading the team to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and earning an All-Star Game appearance in the process.
He would go on to sign a five-year deal with the Oilers, but wound up losing the starting job and was eventually bought out by the team in 2024.
On Tuesday’s episode of The Sheet, Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek and ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski chat with Campbell about his career as an NHL goaltender and what led to him wanting to get into coaching.
Jeff Marek: Did you find that you didn’t have someone around you to say, “You can’t bear all of this, you can’t carry all of this through your whole career.” You need to be more like Carey Price, where in his post-game interviews, you didn’t know if he won the game or lost the game, because he was just even-keeled the whole time.
Did it feel like you were carrying everything, all the time, for every team that you were on?
Jack Campbell: That’s a great question. For me, and I can’t speak for everybody, but I just feel that when I say, “holding you accountable,” as athletes and hockey players, you’re naturally raised by a parent or sibling to be shown what that looks like. We truly enjoy working hard on our craft, but that’s the easy part.
To me, when I think of accountability, it’s what you just talked about: Beating myself up so bad that by trying to train harder, I’m not able to get the full amount of sleep I need to recover, or mentally I’m not sharp for the next start. Maybe I’m not present with my girlfriend at the time.
We’re trying to be the best we can be but having a coach to show you that you’re capable of so much more, and there is a way to get there, that’s why while I’m transitioning, there’s so much meaning behind it.
You can watch the full interview and the rest of the episode here…
