Jack Campbell’s next stop won’t be in a crease. It’ll be in a coaching role built around helping other people figure themselves out.
The 34-year-old goaltender announced on Instagram Sunday that he is retiring from active hockey and shifting into life coaching, calling time on an NHL career that took him from top prospect to All-Star to a player searching for something deeper away from the rink.
“I grew up my entire life chasing one dream, and that was to play in the NHL,” Campbell said on Instagram. “I was fortunate enough to accomplish that goal, playing eight seasons in the NHL and becoming an all-star. Frankly, on paper living a pretty awesome life.”
Campbell’s path was never a straight line. He was a first-round pick by Dallas in 2010, in a draft that also included Scott Wedgewood, Philipp Grubauer and Petr Mrazek. The American national development prospect later played for Windsor and Soo in junior, then won a Calder Cup with the 2014 Texas Stars.
He broke into the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings before landing with Toronto in early 2020, when the Maple Leafs sent forward Kyle Clifford, Trevor Moore and draft picks the other way. That move brought Campbell his biggest run of success. He won more than 50 games over the next three seasons, set a club record with 10 straight wins and earned an All-Star nod alongside Auston Matthews.
But the same stretch also showed the burden he carried. Campbell often put too much blame on himself after losses, including Toronto’s seven-game playoff defeat to Montreal in 2021, part of the team’s broader inability to win a postseason series.
Toronto did not re-sign him after the 2021-22 season, and Campbell moved on to Edmonton on a five-year, US$25-million deal. He eventually lost the starting job to Stuart Skinner, was waived the following season and saw his struggles continue in the AHL before Edmonton bought him out.
Last summer, he signed a one-year, $775,000 deal with his home-state Detroit Red Wings, but his time there took another turn when he entered the NHL/NHLPA Assistance Program. He made only random starts for the farm team that season and has not played since.
“(I am) super grateful for my days of playing, but what a lot of people don’t see is the personal battle I went through throughout my career,” Campbell said in his video.
“Walking away from hockey wasn’t easy. It gave me more than I could have ever imagined. But over the last few years, I realized the work that brought me the most fulfillment wasn’t stopping pucks, it was helping people become who they’re capable of becoming.”
He now describes himself in his Instagram bio as a “former NHL goaltender” and an “identity and performance coach.” In the video, he said his coaching package will focus on how someone is doing, how they may be getting in their own way, what they want to accomplish and how to get there.
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