Old rivals to battle for crease
Campbell, Mrázek have competed since juniors, now have common goal
By the sounds of it, the Maple Leafs are ready to move on from the disappointment of last spring’s first-round playoff exit.
Goalies Jack Campbell and Petr Mrázek got an early start.
On the opening day of training camp, Campbell, the incumbent in net, said he’s already spent a lot of time with Mrázek since the free-agent pickup arrived in Toronto two weeks ago.
“(Mrázek’s) desire to win, that’s what we talk about the most,” Campbell said Wednesday about the former Carolina Hurricanes netminder, who signed a three-year contract worth $11.4 million (U.S.). “He has a good sense of humour, so we get along that way. We’re serious, but he’s also enjoying life and he’s a joy to be around.”
Both will be under pressure to play a significant role as the Leafs try to break a five-year streak of first-round playoff exits. At first glance they seem like polar opposites — Campbell hails from Port Huron, Mich., while Mrázek just arrived from his hometown of Ostrava in the Czech Republic — but they have a few things in common.
That includes the 2012 world junior championship, where Mrázek backstopped the Czechs to a surprising win over the United States, with Campbell in goal, to advance to the quarterfinals.
“We had to win to make the quarterfinals, and it was something I will never forget,” said Mrázek, whose likeness — in a trademark fist-pumping celebration with the Hurricanes — was later incorporated into the world juniors logo for the 2020 tournament in his home country. “For the Czech national team to make the quarterfinals, it was a big step for us.”
Added Campbell: “We grew up playing each other our whole careers, in the OHL and world juniors and NHL. We share the same birth year (1992), and we’ve had some good games against each other and some good rivalries.”
Campbell is expected to get a shot at the No. 1 job after a career year that included an NHL-record 11 consecutive wins to start the season, but Mrázek is more than a backup. A former starter in Detroit, he spent the last three seasons with the Hurricanes. In 2018-19, sharing duties with former Leafs backup Curtis McElhinney, he earned 14 home wins in a row as Carolina made the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons.
Mrázek will wear No. 35 as a Leaf.
“I know (McElhinney) had 35 here, and I met Mac in Carolina. We became really good friends, so I was thinking about that,” Mrázek said.
“I was thinking about a few other numbers. My dad wanted me to go to 58 because he was born that year and he had that number when he played. But I said: Dad, I can’t have that number. It’s a crazy number (for a goalie). And I was thinking, to be honest, about (ex-Leaf) Miroslav Fryc er. He was my first agent and he passed away this year, but his number was 14 and that doesn’t go with a goalie very well.”
Campbell and Mrázek are expected to share the load after the departure of workhorse No. 1goalie Frederik Andersen, who signed with Carolina as a free agent.
“The goal is for this team to win, and there’s no question in my mind we’re ready to do that,” said Campbell, adding that he’s fully recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him last March. “We’re focused, and I feel like there’s a great energy coming in.”