Florida Panthers: Coming to Grips With Soupy’s Departure

Coming to grips and breaking down what happened between the Florida Panthers and Brian Campbell

Its been over two months since Brian Campbell left Sunrise to join the Blackhawks for his reunion with the team that brought him the cup. I have to admit that Campbell leaving the club wasn’t a shock to me, but it was the events that unfolded that left me with a mixture of hurt, anger and a part of me wishing it wasn’t true. I own a couple of Panthers jerseys now and one of them has sat in my closet since July just because I don’t even want to be reminded that he is gone by his number 51 on the back and sides of it.

I’m not afraid to admit that the biggest mistake that happened over the summer was letting Campbell go without any attempt to cash in on him. He obviously wasn’t worth the money he was being paid towards the end of his run and offering him a long tenure contract at 36 years old isn’t the brightest idea either. The issue I have with it though is that the guy was reliable, consistent and dependable. That is worth some serious consideration when you are talking about a hockey player.

Brian Campbell was a cornerstone to the defensive end

The biggest stat that you can push about Campbell right off the bat is that he is the iron man streak holder for the Panthers, playing 383 consecutive games, breaking the original record of 374 held by Olli Jokinen. Doing the math, that’s 4 and a half seasons and covered the entire time he played for Florida. Given his age and the position he plays, that’s an incredible feat to pull off.

His point production wasn’t something to scoff at either. He was excellent at breaking out of the defensive zone and with 82 goals and 405 assists in his career, he was averaging just shy of half a point per game in his career. He isn’t a big guy like Florida typically likes to use, standing at 5’10 and 190 pounds but his ability to maneuver and his experience was what made him exceptional at his position.

What stats really don’t tell the story of is how well he could gel with any pairing he was given, whether it be the young Aaron Ekblad or the veteran Willie Mitchell or even guys like Erik Gudbranson. Campbell’s role on the blue line was not only to be a star player, but to be a mentor to the younger talent on the ice. Ekblad recently was quoted saying “A coach I had in juniors always told me to be on red alert, know when guys are going to hit you, know what players on ice are more dangerous than others, When there’s a dangerous situation he gets it out quickly and is always aware. Everything I’ve learned at this point being an offensive defenseman in the NHL comes from him.”

Was the money an issue?

Its not surprising that Campbell ended up taking far less than he was being paid in Florida to return to Chicago, taking only 1.5 million with a $750,000 performance bonus for one year as compared to his contract that he originally signed with Chicago that Florida took on worth $7,142,875 per season over 8 years.

On July 1st, when Campbell had officially signed with Chicago, Florida had already made the Keith Yandle signing a week before and spent July 1st picking up James Reimer, Colton Sceviour and Jonathan Marchessault and resigning Aaron Ekblad. Vince Trocheck would resign his agreement the next day while Jason Demers would sign his agreement and Reilly Smith would sign on July 3rd. Notably, Willie Mitchell, Al Montoya, Teddy Purcell, Jiri Hudler and prospects Dylan Olsen, Quinton Howden, Corban Knight and Garrett Wilson all became free agents the same day as Campbell.

What stings about the ending is that by the time all the transactions had occured, the Panthers still had enough cap room to offer Brian Campbell as much as 2 million dollars per season guaranteed. Going into the 2016-17 season, we know now that Florida had certainly shown more interest in locking up a core group of players after finally removing the dead weight contract of Dave Bolland and resigning Jonathan Huberdeau, but why couldn’t Brian Campbell fall into the category of that core when as it sits today, they currently have over 9 million dollars in cap space free? Even if you look a year ahead, the biggest obstacle now as far as the cap situation goes is whether Jaromir Jagr decides to play again next season and if he does, how much will he be worth and will he even stay in Florida?

Even if the money was an issue at some point, the fact that he jumped on the Chicago offer right away tells me there was certainly more to Campbell’s decision than just the money being offered.

Home is where the Cup was

You just gotta love Dale Tallon‘s monstrous creation that is the Blackhawks. We could argue over whether they are a dynasty or not but one thing is for sure. Looking at the roster of 2010, its no surprise they walked away with the Stanley Cup. . Watching Chicago dump talent off elsewhere in the years after and still manage to keep going afterwards to two more Stanley Cups was certainly impressive.

I can understand Campbell’s desire to go back, but the part that I couldn’t figure out was why he didn’t just say so from the get go. It almost felt like he was toying with us in the months leading up to the transaction, stating he was okay with staying or being traded and wanting to do what was best for the Panthers but then days before free agency hit he decided to test the waters, which we figured out afterwards meant he was going home and Chicago was walking away with Campbell without any return for the Panthers.

I’m not saying he owed us that, but as a fan of his, I would have appreciated him saying goodbye and living up to his word. Instead we got this

He would eventually thank the Panthers and the fans… 3 days later.

Next: Florida Panthers Sign Two Players to PTO's

What I’ve come to realize over the last two months is that Brian Campbell either had a change of heart after the first round exit in the playoffs or that Brian Campbell knew deep down that he wanted to win the cup elsewhere. I can’t be upset with him when he gave us five great years of his career and left the organization in much better shape than when he arrived. He is certainly within his rights to pursue his return to Chicago if that’s what he chooses, and I’m sure the door will be open for him if he chooses to come back to Florida next season. Campbell’s mindset is obviously on the cup and he is going to choose whoever he feels is most likely to win it before he eventually retires

“If there’s no prize at the end to win it all [why play?],” Campbell said. “I’ve been lucky enough to win and know the feeling, and I want others like Aaron Ekblad to share that feeling and I want that feeling again for myself and that’s what I’m playing for.”

Lets hope he made the wrong choice this year.