It’s been a far from ideal start to the 2024-25 season for the Edmonton Oilers who still, despite the way things feel around this team, sit four points out of leading the Pacific Divison.
There are concerns in the defensive zone about the team giving up too many goals from dangerous areas, offensive concerns about the team’s hesitancy to drive to the net, and Edmonton showing an all-around lack of consistency. And when it comes to inconsistencies in their game, there might not be a more pressing issue than in the crease, where neither Stuart Skinner nor Calvin Pickard are providing enough for the team. Despite the Oilers ranking among the league best in nearly all the key defensive metrics, they can’t seem to buy a save.
Nothing indicates the Oilers are in a position where they want to make a move, but if they did, one netminder would consider waiving their modified no-trade clause to join the them: Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun wrote about Gibson and the potential of him being traded Wednesday, highlighting the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes as two teams that “immediately jump to mind” as options for the 31-year-old.
LeBrun, however, opined that the Oilers could be “an outlier team in the mix” for Gibson:
Gibson has a modified no-trade clause, but my understanding is he would consider the Oilers, who came one win short of the Cup last season.But my sense is that goaltending is not the Oilers’ focus right now. That’s not because their goalies have been fantastic but because that type of trade would have a lot of moving parts and affect their cap. Right now, the Oilers are focused on getting their forward group going in a more effective and consistent, offensive way. And closer to March 7, I suspect the blue line will require an addition.
The salary cap implications are worth talking about right off the top. Gibson has two years remaining on his contract paying him $6.4-million, but if the Ducks retained half his salary — something they are in a position to do with none of their retention slots used — that price point becomes much more tolerable for the cap-strapped Oilers. They’ve dipped into their LTIR pool with recent injuries to Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman, and Viktor Arvidsson, but will begin accruing cap space again when they return from injury and they reduce their roster size.
What else is worth talking about is Gibson as a goaltender. He’s been much maligned in recent years with his numbers over the two campaigns prior to this seeing him post a 27-58-10 record, a .894 save percentage and a 3.78 goals against average. It brings forth a conundrum that the Oilers, or any team looking to acquire him needs to figure out: how much of that is on the goaltender, and how much of it is on the team in front of him?
The Ducks have offered him, quite literally, no help, ranking among the bottom three teams in terms of shot, scoring chance, goal and expected goal suppression over that time, even though their .893 team save percentage ranks seventh-worst in the league over that time. Gibsons’s save percentage still ranks a bit above that, which is a good sign, while he’s saved -3.5 goals above expected over that time. Evidently it would be great if that metric would be above the zero mark, but things could be a lot worse.
LeBrun wrote that teams have been concerned about the volume he’s faced in recent years have “broken him,” but that “there is also word he’s arrived this season with a fresh perspective and much better attitude.”
Gibson underwent an emergency appendectomy on Sept. 25th, and has drawn in for three games so far in Anaheim this season, going 3-0 with a .906 save percentage and a 2.67, even with the Ducks continuing to rank in the league’s basement in terms of defensive metrics.
If the Oilers feel he could be a contributor, he’d be an upgrade over Pickard, and is someone who could spell Skinner in times where he struggles, which we’ve seen over the last few years for the 26-year-old.
Edmonton would surely be able to offer Gibson better defensive support in front of him than the Ducks have, and it’s why he could be an interesting option for the team this season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
