7:20 p.m.: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has somewhat contradicted Seravalli’s earlier report, saying Gibson indicated today that he hasn’t outright refused to play another game for Anaheim “if it comes to that.” Gibson’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, also called Seravalli’s statement “false, unjust and inflammatory” and said Seravalli did not reach out to him or Gibson before making the claim. He confirmed Gibson has not told the Ducks’ front office that he’d refuse to report for a game, although he didn’t refute reports of a trade request.
5:00 p.m.: The goalie trade market has sorely been lacking high-end names in recent years, but this summer, we have two: Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck and Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson. The former has made it clear he won’t be re-signing with Winnipeg when his contract expires next summer, while the latter is locked in longer-term but has told the team he’d like a change of scenery.
Now, it appears Gibson has given Anaheim more of a trade demand than a request. Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Gibson’s indicated he is “not playing another game for the Anaheim Ducks.” Whether that means a potential refusal to report if Anaheim hasn’t moved him by the start of training camp remains to be seen.
If interest in Gibson wasn’t spiking already, it likely will be now. It’s also poor timing for something like this to leak, at least from Anaheim’s side. With the trade market for Hellebuyck shrinking after teams backed away due to his salary demands, more and more teams looking for goalie help would likely have turned to Anaheim and Gibson, who’s got four seasons left on a deal earning him $6.4MM per season. Now, with less leverage on Anaheim’s part, they might not be able to recoup as much value in a deal.
The New Jersey Devils have been the team with the most reported interest in Hellebuyck, but they’ve also balked at the $9MM-plus he desires on an extension. With Gibson as a more affordable option, could the two sides engage in trade talks soon? No team has been specifically named in Gibson trade talks yet; in fact, it’s been eerily quiet on that front. But New Jersey is the best contending team with long-term goalie uncertainty.
Neither traditional nor advanced metrics have been kind to Gibson since his eight-year extension kicked in for the 2019-20 season. The Ducks haven’t been terribly good in that timeframe, but even accounting for the team’s poor defense, Gibson’s come in below average over the life of the deal. It’s why you’ll find vastly split opinions of him depending on who you ask.
It’s worth wondering, though, if the toll of Anaheim’s rebuild has affected Gibson’s play beyond just poor defense. It can’t be particularly motivating to give your best every night when you know your team isn’t anywhere near a playoff race, and with Gibson still having plenty of term left on his deal, there was no quick or easy way out of his situation. With Anaheim posting one of the worst defensive seasons in recent memory in 2022-23, it likely changed Gibson’s tune on wanting to try and stick around for a rebuild – a sentiment he echoed as late as the summer of 2022.
Anaheim is in a position to retain a small amount of salary to facilitate a deal, but they likely wouldn’t be interested in retaining more than 25% ($1.6MM) of his cap hit. With a slew of quickly developing prospects slated to come into the fold over the next few years, the Ducks could envision being competitive again by the time his contract expires. It’s a factor that surely impacts league-wide interest or the value of a return package.
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