And so retires yet another link to the 2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.
After he was unable to successfully latch on with a club following his contract termination with the Blue Jackets late in 2016, former Bruins center Gregory Campbell has officially called it a career.
The 33-year-old Campbell recorded three goals and 11 points in an 82-game run with Columbus in 2015-16, his only season with the Blue Jackets, and what was his first and only post-Boston stop.
Acquired as a complementary piece in the 2010 trade that landed Nathan Horton in Boston in exchange for Dennis Wideman and draft picks, Campbell spent five seasons with the Bruins, and totaled 39 goals and 91 points in 358 games played. The gritty Campbell’s best season in Boston was his first, where he recorded 13 goals and 29 points, and served as the centerpiece of the club’s infamous Merlot Line, with Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton on the wings.
Never defined by his point totals, but rather his effort on a shift-to-shift basis, Campbell officially earned cult hero status in Game 3 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals.
With the Bruins on the penalty kill, Campbell blocked a shot, and then got back to his feet and continued to try and kill the penalty, clearly struggling to even stand, let alone move. After he made his way down the tunnel and back to the B’s locker room, with chants of ‘Campbell’ echoing throughout the Garden, it was later revealed that Campbell suffered a broken leg on the blocked shot.
Campbell will join the Blue Jackets in a player development role.
His retirement makes him the 8th member of the 2011 team to retire, be it due to injury in the case of Horton, Andrew Ference, and Rich Peverley, or on their own accord. The number is really 10, but neither Michael Ryder or Tim Thomas officially announced their retirement from the NHL.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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