Oilers' Jack Campbell says his play this season has been 'pathetic'

Jack Campbell inked a five-year, $25 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers this summer and he has a .874 save percentage through his first eight starts with his new team. Mike McKenna took a look at why Campbell has been struggling in The Blue Paint segment of Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live.

Seravalli: “Let’s talk about a guy who’s really struggling in Edmonton. Jack Campbell has been pretty critical of his play. He has a goals-against average above four to this point in the season, a .874 save percentage, and he publicly criticized himself, saying that his game to this point has been “pathetic.”

Mike, what are you seeing out of Jack Campbell’s game to this point in the season?”

McKenna: “Jack keeps beating himself up. At this point, that’s just who he is, and I wish he’d stop. But I think part of it is that the Oilers have played a bit better in front of Stuart Skinner than they have Jack Campbell.

There’s more to that. When I watch Campbell, I see a goalie whose rebound control hasn’t been great this year, there have been several goals scored off of clean rebounds, and he’s been attacking shots rather than just getting to the middle of his net. I’ve seen him also have trouble with his alignment and he’s having trouble down the wing getting his right foot in front of his left foot and it’s making life difficult as the play moves toward him to get square.

You can see when he gets set here, his right foot is in front of his left, the pass goes across and the whole net is open. He isn’t rotating on time, he isn’t getting his upper body there, and he isn’t getting square to the shot. If you aren’t going to get square early, you have a really difficult time with the first shot.