Jack Campbell signs one-year deal with Red Wings after being bought out by Oilers

It didn’t take Jack Campbell very long to find a new home.

After having the final three seasons of his five-year, $25 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers bought out on Sunday, Campbell inked a one-year, $775k deal with the Detroit Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent.

The Red Wings have an interesting goaltending situation. The team came into the off-season with Ville Husso and Alex Lyon signed to a combined $5.65 million salary cap hit and they inked veteran goaltender Cam Talbot to a two-year contract worth $2.5 million annually on Monday. With that in mind, it seems likely that Campbell will start the season with Detroit’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Campbell was selected by the Dallas Stars with the 11th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. He played just one game with the Stars over five seasons with the organization and didn’t break through as an NHL goaltender until after he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings ahead of the 2016-17 season.

After two strong seasons with Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, Campbell made the Kings’ roster out of training camp in 2018-19. He posted a .928 save percentage over 31 games in his first full season in the NHL and was traded the following season to the Toronto Maple Leafs in order to make room on the roster for up-and-coming goaltender Cal Petersen.

Campbell split the net with Frederik Andersen during his first two seasons in Toronto and then formed a tandem with Petr Mrazek after the Leafs opted to let Andersen leave the team as a free agent. Over two-and-a-half years with the Leafs, Campbell posted a .916 save percentage in 77 regular-season games and a .915 save percentage in 14 playoff games.

The Oilers signed Campbell to a five-year, $25 million contract in free agency ahead of the 2022-23 season. He struggled to an .888 save percentage over 36 games in his first year in Edmonton and lost the starting goaltender role to rookie Stuart Skinner. After just five appearances in 2023-24, the Oilers placed Campbell on waivers and he spent the rest of the season with the Bakersfield Condors.