Goaltender Jack Campbell announced his retirement from the National Hockey League after nine seasons on Monday, and the former Toronto Maple Leafs netminder has only positive memories of a long career.
The 34-year-old Campbell appeared in 176 games in his nine seasons in the league split between the Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers, with his most success coming in his two-plus seasons in Toronto.
Campbell was named an All-Star in 2022 with the Maple Leafs, but the famously mercurial goaltender - who often made headlines for being too hard on himself - is looking back on his career with joy.
Campbell joined First Up on TSN1050 on Wednesday to discuss his future as an identity and performance coach with Novus Global, his career in the NHL and his favourite memories of playing in Toronto and Edmonton.
“The official title is executive life coach, for me it just really hits home with the identity and performance [aspect] because that’s certainly what I got most out of it with my coach,” Campbell said of his new career. “I started doing that line of work about three years ago ... and frankly it’s just changed the complete trajectory of my life.
“You guys would ask me all the time like ‘Jack, why do you beat yourself up, do you think that’s actually valuable?’ and I did believe there was so much value in it because it made me want to continue to work when things weren’t going my way,” Campbell said. “The thing that this work has shown me ... is that you can still have that ownership and accountability you don’t have to literally drive yourself mad over that.“
Campbell repeatedly talked about how thrilled he was to begin this next chapter of his life after his NHL opportunities ran out. Campbell struggled for 41 games with the Oilers, and was bought out in the second year of a five-year deal before spending the 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
“It was a circus, my whole career,” said Campbell. “Whether it be getting drafted, having these big goals to be a franchise player for the Stars and wanting to prove to them that they made the right choice and ultimately not being able to live up to my own expectations and moving on to L.A., having the coolest, most amazing mentor in Jonathan Quick, it was a special crew.
“Then Toronto, I can’t stop smiling ... even though I would’ve wanted to be there forever, it’s just the greatest time of my life,” Campbell said. “I met my wife there, the friendships I have there are incredible ... some of the hardest things I’ve gone through off the ice were in Toronto, but looking back it just adds to the power of what Toronto means to me because I was able to identify things there and begin to work on it.”
Campbell held himself to a high standard throughout his career, and he spoke openly to the media about how goals allowed would affect him mentally - going so far as to call his performance pathetic after a loss playing with the Oilers.
How did that mindset work with playing in two of the biggest markets in the sport in Toronto and Edmonton?
“My answer may sound interesting, but it’s the truth - I was obsessed with playing in a Canadian market. Playing in Toronto was the coolest thing in the world, waking up on game day and opening up the blinds it just felt like Hockey Night in Canada every single game,” Campbell said. “Then Edmonton, another massive market, an amazing team, but the hard part about it isn’t exactly what people think - yes it’s a lot of eyes on you and media and positives, negatives, things like that, but for me it was always what’s going on in between my ears. The media or the comments on social media would never be as bad as when I talked to myself so in that regard, playing in a Canadian market was never actually that big of an issue.
“It would be untruthful if I said there weren’t difficult times with the publicity and not being able to go out for dinner or going out for dinner when things are great and you wanna just be present with your wife or your friends, but I loved it, I loved every second of it.”
Campbell carries a ton of excitement into his new role. He spoke about, as a young hockey player, the notion that his entire identity was connected to what he did on the ice. Becoming a coach has given him the guidance to be joyous and peaceful when talking about his sometimes rocky career.
There is one thing he wanted to move on from in his playing career, though: “I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little burned out on [the nickname] Soup, but that’s okay.”
