TSN: Pierre LeBrun on with Jay Onrait on Anaheim Ducks and goaltender John Gibson being open to a change and what teams could be interested in trading for him.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Onrait: “You also wrote this week about potential landing spots for John Gibson. Listen, we’ve been talking about this for a long time. But now it feels like the Ducks really have a goaltender in the future in Lukas Dostal, even though they are struggling once again.
But they’ve got their goalie of the future. The question is, can they find someone to take Gibson in that big contract? What are some potential landing spots in your mind Pierre?”
LeBrun: “Right? And one of the reasons I wrote about this is I think things have shifted a little. You’re right, he’s been available for more than a year. And for people watching, it’s important to understand that the Ducks have been open to moving him, but also, John Gibson and his agent have been open to that too. They’re working all in concert. They’ve all been on the same date, saying it’s time for me to go somewhere else. And they’re doing it in concert. Like there’s no tension here in this.
What has scared teams away, especially last year, was that there was still a lot of term left on his contract that pays him $6.4 million a year. And listen, now there’s two more years left on his contract after this year that pays him six over.
So it’s not like that’s totally gone away. The difference is the cap is going up meaningfully now every year, as we know. Number two, top goalies are now signing for $8.5 million a year. Suddenly at 6.4, if John Gibson finds himself, it doesn’t look terrible. Number three, I think the Ducks are now ready to eat and retain salary in a John Gibson trade. I don’t know if they were ready to do that a year ago.
So there’s a lot of factors that are leading up to the fact that I think everyone involved is more motivated to see this happening before March 7. In fact, I know they are.
Now the question is, who steps up? And you know, there’s a couple teams in particular that I think are great fits. One is Carolina. One is Colorado.
Now, having dug in on this, let’s start with the Avalanche. So 31st in the league, goals against. I don’t have to explain that too much. But the Avs, my understanding is, are steadfast in their belief that Alexandar Gorgiev will turn this around. They point to the fact that he went toe-to-toe with Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Ottinger in the playoffs last year. And he did, by the way. The Avs didn’t lose out in the second round of the goaltending.
And they think they’re going to be okay. They insist, for better, for worse, Colorado insists they’re not goalie hunting. So that’s probably an X when it comes to a possibility for John Gibson, who I think would be perfect there.
Carolina is very interesting to me. I know for a fact that John Gibson is on their radar list. Doesn’t mean necessarily they’ll pick up the phone, but he’s a name they’ve bandied about.
Freddie Anderson’s out again. They’re still evaluating him, but I think it’s going to be a couple months at least, and then what’s he like when he comes back? So there’s some concern there about their depth. I mean, what keeps Eric Tulsky, the GM, up at night, no doubt in my mind, is what happens (Pyotr) Kochetkov gets hurt come playoff time.”
Onrait: “Yes.”
LeBrun: “What do you do if you’re Carolina? So I know for a fact the Hurricanes are calling around and examining the goalie market just so they’re ready. Whether or not they go after Gibson or another goalie before March 7th remains to be seen.
But I love the fit if, if John Gibson becomes a $4 million goalie instead of a $6.4 million goalie, I’m telling you that guy is going to find his A game again on a contender.”
Onrait: “And you make such a good point about Carolina, you know, they’ve always been reluctant to pay goaltenders, right? So if you could, if Anaheim would be willing to eat a little bit of that money, maybe there’s a fit there.”
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