Canceled season hurts players such as Campbell
Unable to showcase their abilities, OHL prospects overlooked in draft
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America last March, shuttering the hockey world, Aidan Campbell expected the hiatus to last for maybe a couple of weeks and then the Ontario Hockey League season would be right back on.
“Two weeks turned into a month — and then turned into 18 months,” the Erie Otters goalie and Pens Elite program alum said last week in a phone interview.
The OHL didn’t finish that season and never got the green light from the Ontario provincial government to resume play in 202021, putting Campbell and dozens of other NHL draft hopefuls in limbo. The 18year-old Cranberry native hasn’t played a sanctioned game in front of scouts since last February.
Uncertainty was the story of this year’s NHL draft, which for the second year in a row was held virtually and concluded Saturday.
The pandemic affected feeder leagues on both sides of the Atlantic and forced NHL teams to rely even more on video scouting and analytics. High-profile international tournaments and the 2021 scouting combine were canceled. And leagues such as the United States Hockey League were disrupted due to COVID-19.
But at least those kids got to play. The Ontario Hockey League was the only of the three subdivisions of the Canadian Hockey League to sit out all of 2020-21.
“It really wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought we were going to come back [in 2020] and I definitely was not expecting our season to be canceled the following year,” Campbell said. “That was a rough part in the journey, but there’s always some rough spots in the road. So it’s all about how you deal with them.”
His is one of countless stories about how the pandemic impacted the development of NHL draft prospects and limited opportunities to impress scouts. Campbell was not drafted, and can’t wait to head back to Erie this fall to show everyone what he’s been up to.
Campbell, who in 2019 backstopped the Pens Elite 16-and-under team to a national title, started his first OHL season strong. Then he and Otters went into a funk. He rebounded when the calendar turned to 2020 and had a 10-8-5 record with a 3.65 goals-against average when the league shut down last March.
Two weeks later, the OHL announced the cancellation of the 2020 playoffs.
“It would have been nice to get that playoff, late-season experience [in front of scouts],” Campbell said. “But sometimes the dice don’t roll in your favor.”
NHL Central Scouting had Campbell ranked 28th among North American goalies in its final list for the 2020 draft, which got bumped back to October. He watched the first few rounds of that draft before heading to a local rink for a workout. When he got off the ice, he saw that he wasn’t among the 20 goalies selected.
At that point, the start of the 2020-21 season had been delayed until December. He remained optimistic the OHL would eventually get up and running.
In the meantime, his agent, John Osei-Tutu, looked into the possibility of sending Campbell over to Europe to get in games there, a path some other draft hopefuls took. Unfortunately, Campbell couldn’t commit to a Scandinavian club because if the OHL had started up, he would have had to report to Erie right away.
“That would have been a cool experience,” Campbell said. “I wish that I would have known sooner that the OHL season was canceled so I could have gone.”
Campbell had no choice but to wait for official word. But he did not remain idle.
The goalie said he skated four days a week at local rinks. Once a week, he got in a specialized workout with Shane Clifford, the former Penguins goaltending coach who has mentored him for several years now. Other days, he worked with the staff at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, home of the Pens Elite program.
While the NHL was out of season, he was invited to private skates that included local products such as Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller and Penguins such as Bryan Rust and Casey DeSmith. That increased his skills and his confidence.
“Going up against those guys, trying to beat them, it’s honestly inspiring and it shows you how far you really need to go to make it to that level,” he said.
This winter and spring, while the NHL was playing its season, Campbell practiced with other OHL players in the area. It wasn’t ideal but beat the alternative. He said many of his peers above the border weren’t allowed in rinks or gyms.
“I’m just glad that I was able to get that development over the past year,” Campbell said. “I feel like that’s definitely boosted me past a lot of other people.”
Campbell shot up to 6 feet 6 this year. He tried to add bulk to that growing frame, doing weight training six days a week. He reports that he’s at 205 pounds now.
He said he spoke with most, if not all, NHL teams via email over the last year. Anaheim, Detroit, Chicago and Toronto were among the teams that contacted him most often. Some scouts gave him feedback on what he needs to improve to get to the NHL — quicker feet, better lateral mobility, more competitiveness.
Campbell was already resigned to the fact that the OHL would cancel the entire 2020-21 season when the news was officially announced in late April.
“I knew a lot of the older guys were upset because that was their last chance, their last year,” he said. “For me, I had already saw it coming months earlier. I didn’t let that ruin my development. … But I wish it could have been different.”
His 17-year-old sister, Hannah, helped keep him upbeat and determined.
“Not many people focused on what it was doing to the players and their mental health,” the goalie said. “Most of these guys, hockey is their life. When you lose part of it to something that’s out of your control and everybody’s control, it’s so hard to cope with that. You really need people who care about you.”
Four OHL players, including Campbell’s teammate Brandan Hoffman, decided to do something about it. Last month in Erie, they hosted a prospect showcase for OHLers like Campbell who had not gotten an opportunity to impress scouts due to the season’s cancellation. At least 20 NHL teams applied for credentials.
“That Erie showcase was tremendous. They did a great job raising money for that and putting it together,” Campbell said. “That was a really good experience and a good opportunity to show my skills and what I’ve been working on.”
Campbell didn’t make the cut for this year’s NHL Central Scouting final rankings and he recognized there was a strong likelihood that he would go undrafted again.
“I’m not really expecting much because I really haven’t been able to show anything. There’s not much to go off of. So I went all in on next year,” Campbell said. “I’m really looking forward to next year and showing what I have to offer.”
He gets his next opportunity later this month at the 2021 World Junior Summer Showcase in Michigan. He’s one of 44 U.S. players invited to that camp. After that, he plans to be one of the OHL’s top goalies for a first-place Erie team.
If he does that, NHL scouts will be unable to ignore Campbell next summer.
“Next year will be huge, and I’m ready for it,” Campbell said. “I can’t wait.”