Campbell retires as player, moves into front-office role with Blackhawks

CHICAGO --Brian Campbell could have tried to continue his NHL career, but it wouldn't have been with the Chicago Blackhawks.
So rather than seek a new contract with another team, the 38-year-old defenseman decided to retire after 17 NHL seasons. He is joining the Blackhawks front office as special adviser of business and hockey operations and will work in marketing, community relations and with their youth hockey initiatives.

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Campbell said Tuesday his decision hinged largely on staying in the area, where he lives with his wife, Lauren, and their daughters, Harper and Everley, who attended a press conference at United Center on Tuesday along with Campbell's parents, Ed and Lorna.
"It's just the thoughts I've had for a while now, and I feel like this is the time for me to walk away," Campbell said. "Our girls are young, so moving them would just … we would've done it if we'd wanted to do it, but it would've been a lot. I just didn't have the drive to go do that and battle."
Campbell played four seasons with the Blackhawks and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2010, ending a 49-year drought. He assisted on Patrick Kane's Cup-winning overtime goal in Game 6 of the Final against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Blackhawks president and CEO John McDonough said Campbell's arrival nine years ago was a difference-maker.
"On July 1, 2008, the Blackhawks acquired Brian via free agency, and that day I think our franchise was elevated to another level," McDonough said. "It really paved the way for free agents [and] college free agents [to realize] that Chicago was a destination, and Brian played a major role in helping us win the Stanley Cup in 2010."
Campbell was traded to the Florida Panthers on June 25, 2011, in a move made to help the Blackhawks get under the NHL salary cap. He played five seasons with the Panthers, then signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks on July 1, 2016.

That contract had a salary-cap charge of $1.5 million and included $750,000 in performance bonuses, according to CapFriendly.com. Florida reportedly offered more money, but Campbell said the pull of playing home games close to his family was too good to pass up.
Campbell said he's in good shape physically but wasn't presented with the opportunity to continue playing for the Blackhawks.
"I think they were going to move in a different direction, so that was fine by me," he said. "I understand. I've played a long time in this league and that was the way they felt they wanted to go. It was nice they gave me lots of time to think about it and think about what I wanted to do."
Campbell had 504 points (87 goals, 417 assists) in 1,082 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Blackhawks and Panthers. He was selected by the Sabres in the sixth-round (No. 156) of the 1997 NHL Draft.
He played in the NHL All-Star Game four times and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2012 after he had 53 points (four goals, 49 assists) and six penalty minutes in 82 games for the Panthers.
Campbell had 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 80 games for the Blackhawks last season. He didn't have a point when the Blackhawks were swept by the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference First Round.
He said spending his final season with the Blackhawks was special.
"Lauren and I talk about that a lot," Campbell said. "I don't think I'd want to retire any other way than [being] a Blackhawk, so it was fun. I had a blast. There were lots of nights, after games, I was with my buddies, and that was the best part about it."