What a Jack Campbell buyout would look like for the Oilers this summer

The Edmonton Oilers shocked everyone on Tuesday when they placed goaltender Jack Campbell on waivers. Campbell is in just the second year of a five-year contract he signed with the team ahead of the 2022-2023 season. The deal carries an annual cap hit of $5M and as of right now, it does not look like a good deal at all.

The Oilers and their fans had hoped that after a successful stint in Toronto, Campbell would be the answer to all of their goaltending problems. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened. Campbell lost the starting job to Stuart Skinner last season and only played in 36 games, where he went 21-9-4 but posted a .888 save percentage and 3.41 GAA. This season has gone even worse for the former 11th overall pick as he is 1-4-0 in five games and has posted an atrocious .873 save percentage and 4.50 GAA.

The Oilers are hoping that some time in the AHL will help Campbell rediscover his game, but if it doesn't help, they could be looking at a fairly costly buyout. With the team being so close to the cap, a buyout could be problematic.

If the Oilers bought out Campbell, they would have to pay him for the next six seasons after this year with cap hits ranging from $1.1M in year one up to $2.6M in year three. Years 4-6 would carry a $1.5M cap hit.


Although the cap is supposed to rise significantly over the next few seasons, McDavid and Draisatl are going to command any extra cap space the Oilers may have gained from it as they are due for new deals in two and three years respectively. Campbell's buyout wouldn't hurt their contracts but it could hurt the Oilers' ability to solidify the lineup around them.