Opinion | Jack Campbell’s biggest stop might be putting an end to the questions about the Leafs’ goaltending

The numbers tell one story about the recent state of Jack Campbell’s play. They aren’t pretty.

Wrapped around the Maple Leafs starter’s first trip to the NHL all-star weekend is a 10-game stretch where his save percentage saw more valleys than peaks: .867, .848, .978, .920, .808, .969, .667, .850, .808 and .800.

That type of game-by-game variance isn’t entirely uncommon for someone who wears goal pads for a living, and it came after a scorching-hot start that made Campbell an all-star in the first place. But with the Leafs in a mini-funk and the trade deadline starting to come into view, they must give management at least a little pause: Is this a blip or an issue worthy of deeper concern?

There is still time to gain a clearer answer to that question, although March 21 will be here before Kyle Dubas and an increasingly tense fan base knows it.

Seeing the 30-year-old Campbell return to form for a stretch of games, starting with Thursday’s visit by Minnesota, would be ideal. Anything less might rearrange the priorities on a deadline shopping list that currently includes a top-six winger and more depth on defence. This is an all-in season in Toronto, so nothing can be ruled out.

There seems to be much less concern about Campbell’s recent slide internally than you’ll find on hockey Twitter, and the reality is he has earned some faith with a .921 save percentage over 59 appearances the last two seasons.

The team also hasn’t played particularly well in front of him and backup Petr Mrazek of late, repeatedly surrendering dangerous odd-man rush chances in games where they’ve otherwise generally enjoyed a territorial advantage. But a goaltender never controls what happens in front of him.

It’s his job to stop the puck and take ownership of the specific aspect of the game he has control over, a grim part of the duty Campbell takes to heart more fully than most. You saw that following Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Columbus when he said: “It’s unacceptable on my part. We should’ve won 3-0 or whatever.”

Fairly or not, there is still some question about Campbell’s ability to control the crease on a team with unfettered Stanley Cup ambitions.

He has come a long way since arriving without much fanfare in a February 2020 trade from Los Angeles. He supplanted Frederik Andersen last season and carried the Leafs through the first half of this year while Mrazek battled two groin injuries.

Still, the weight of bad goals and bad games is unmistakable in his body language and he’s carrying around an extra heap of uncertainty while playing out the final year of his contract. He acknowledged as much during all-star weekend in Las Vegas, saying: “I mean I’d love to say absolutely not, but of course we’re all human. My goal each day is to be the best I can on the ice and I try to limit those distractions.”

The overall situation hasn’t been helped by Mrazek’s uneven campaign. He was signed last summer to create a tandem and has only been able to play 10 games in five months, not yet getting his skates fully under him with a new team.

That has created a scenario that will likely see Campbell play more than 50 games this season — he’s currently at a career-high 37 — so the physical strain has to be considered along with the mental one right now.

The Leafs are essentially operating on parallel tracks with their goaltenders while also trying to get the five men in front of them reconnected. They need Campbell to regain some confidence and Mrazek to find his groove. That would be preferable to looking for solutions on a trade market that includes a bunch of unsure things and Marc-André Fleury, who is almost certainly too rich for their blood with a $7-million (U.S.) cap hit.

Of course, it’s not entirely clear how much room Dubas is going to be operating with. The Leafs made a series of paper transactions on Wednesday night designed to get them as close to the salary cap ceiling as possible before placing Jake Muzzin on long-term injured reserve. That freed up more than $5.6-million in available space, although it’s space that can only be used while Muzzin is sidelined with his second concussion in as many months.

For all intents and purposes, the Leafs can only deploy it for acquisitions at the trade deadline if Muzzin is gone for the regular season. Given the uncertain nature of head injuries, it’s too early to determine just how long term his long-term injury will be.

And so … there’s an increasing number of balls in the air.

But with the possibility of a first-round playoff series against Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the back of everyone’s minds, the need for better goaltending is obvious.

This team can only go so far if it gets the second-best performance at that position each night.