 After losing captain Mark Messier to free agency in the offseason and being spurned by Joe Sakic in their quest to bring him to the team, Campbell's Rangers struggled out of the gate the next season and he was fired as coach after 57 games.The Rangers would not make the playoffs that season, nor would they again until the 2005-06 season under head coach Tom Renney.Shortly after being fired by the Rangers, Campbell was hired by the NHL as the league's Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations, taking over from the departed Brian Burke.