The Edmonton Oilers are looking like a team in need of a netminder. Stuart Skinner has not impressed so far this season, and his 0.881 save percentage (SV%) has him 33rd of the 35 goalies who have played at least 10 games this year. Calvin Pickard hasn’t been much better, but a 0.893 SV% really is not good enough at the NHL level.
It is clear that this team has no interest in moving on from Skinner. He has been their guy for the last few years and took them to the last game of the Stanely Cup Finals last year. There is too much invested in Skinner to move on from him.
However, the team does need to find someone to support while he rediscovers his form this season. It doesn’t seem like that is Pickard for now. He hasn’t been good enough, but more than that, his play has not inspired any sort of confidence in his play to really be the offensive juggernaut that the Oilers should be.
Rumours have emerged that John Gibson could be available from the Anaheim Ducks. The 31-year-old has played just three games this season as Lukas Dostal has claimed the net in Orange County. The Ducks clearly want to do right by Gibson, who was drafted by them in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft, and will work with him to find a happy landing spot for him.
Playing on a cup contender that will almost certainly give him more starts than the Ducks is definitely an appealing proposition, not to mention being able to play with two potential future Hall of Famers in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The question is does he make sense for the Oilers.
What do we know about John Gibson
Gibson is one of the only remaining workhorse goalies left in the NHL today. He has played at least 40 NHL games per season each year since 2015–16, with a career high of 60 games in 2017–18. Numbers-wise, the product of Pittsburgh has only posted a sub-900 SV% twice in his NHL career, the last two seasons, and this while playing on a rebuilding Ducks side. To contextualize this, Gibson has had a losing record in each of his last six seasons, but put up a 0.900 SV% in all but the last two years.
This is a testament to his form as a netminder. However, the risk is that the 31-year-old netminder has racked up a lot of miles to this point in his career. On top of that, Gibson does have a number of injuries under his belt. He suffered three upper-body and one lower-body injuries last season, while also missing a number of weeks this year due to an appendectomy this season. Looking back over the last few seasons, he has been plagued by injuries nearly every season since starting his NHL career. The performance is there as is the potential, but the risks with Gibson are high.
Does this make sense for the Oilers?
Perhaps the biggest challenge of all is his cap hit. Gibson is under contract with the Ducks for this season, next season, and the season after that for $6.4M a year. Even if the Ducks retained 50% of his contract, the Oilers would still need to move money out to fit him under the cap. WIthout defensive depth, the team would almost certainly have to move one of their wingers, which would limit their forward depth.
That is assuming Anaheim would be interested in one of the team’s older wingers. The Ducks are a young team looking to take a step forward this season, and will likely be looking for either near NHL-ready prospects or young players to complement their group. The Oilers don’t really have much of either.
They would also be looking for draft picks as well, especially if they are to retain salary for this year and the next two. That won’t come cheap even for an older goalie like Gibson. Even from the Oilers’ side, do they want to take a risk on Gibson not just for this season but for the future? It’s a very expensive gamble and one that may cause more headaches than relief.
All around, this feels like a bad deal for everyone. While Gibson would join a contender, which is great for him, the Oilers don’t have the cap flexibility and the cost to do this with retained salary is unlikely to be appealing to them. It’s a pass for now.
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