Many fans were shocked at the end of the 2021 season when the Maple Leafs decided to let Freddie Andersen leave in free agency, but Jack Campbell had stolen the net from him for the playoffs and the Maple Leafs organization felt confident in Campbell's abilities to be a full-time NHL starter.
Campbell started the 2021-22 season on fire, and by Christmas time he was in the conversations for the Vezina trophy, but things fell off the rails in the second half of the season and absolutely fell apart in the playoffs.
By seasons end, Campbell appeared in 41 games and went 31-9-6 with a 2.64GAA and .914 SV%, which are not bad stats, but they were hovering around .930 at Christmas time, so it is a significant drop off. The problem came in the playoffs when the Maple Leafs lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 7 games, Campbell had a poor 3.15GAA and .897SV%.
Despite his playoff showing, Campbell ''soupie'' was a fan favourite in Toronto and was also loved by all his teammates. Many believed the Maple Leafs would keep Campbell, but it appears that they had no interest in retaining his services.
Campbell was looking for a 5 year deal around 5 million, which he got from the Edmonton Oilers, but according to Emma Kaplan:
To replace Campbell next season, the Leafs brought in Matt Murray from the Ottawa Seantors, who is a 2x stanley cup champion, and Ilya Samsonov from free agency after the Washington Capitals chose not to resign him.
