The Anaheim Ducks and John Gibson have looked at possible trade destinations for years. Whenever it seems like there is a suitor, the Ducks get cold feet, or Gibson decides he wants to stay in Orange County. The problem now is that Gibson is 30 years old, and it's hard to find a team in a position to take on an older goalie. The perfect landing spot for Gibson has to be a contending team that is a goalie short of getting over the hump. The Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils were two of those teams, but they fixed the issue by acquiring Darcy Kuemper and Jacob Markstrom already this offseason.
Another problem the Ducks have is that Lukas Dostal is slowly taking the net away from Gibson. Other teams will take advantage of the Ducks if they know they don't necessarily need Gibson moving forward. The Ducks are a young, rebuilding team, so Dostal makes more sense as their goalie of the future. Gibson has three years left on his contract, which doesn't align with the Ducks' contending window. There's a chance the Ducks won't extend Gibson when he's 33 if Dostal is the better option.
Gibson's stats have slowly been going downhill behind the abysmal Ducks skaters, with last season being his worst. The Ducks will regret not trading Gibson sooner, as his value may be the lowest it's ever been. Regardless, the Ducks need to strike now but don't expect a heavy return after seeing what the Bruins got for Linus Ullmark. The goaltender trade market isn't what many people expect it to be.
Washington Capitals shouldn't waste free agency moves
The Capitals made some big moves at the start of the offseason. They signed Matt Roy and acquired Jakob Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois through trade. The Dubois trade saw them send Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings in return and, in a corresponding move, acquired Logan Thompson to back up Charlie Lindgren.
The Capitals fans will love seeing the front office try to extend their contending window while Alex Ovechkin is still with the team. You can ask whether Dubois, Roy, and Chychrun are the players to put them over the top, but one thing we do know is that their goaltending tandem doesn't look promising.
Lindgren looked like the Capitals' goaltender of the future for most of the regular season, which likely led to the Kuemper trade. However, his performance during the playoffs was below par. He lost all four games in a sweep to the Rangers, recording a 3.58 goals-against average and a .864 save percentage.
It would take some salary cap gymnastics to get Gibson on the Capitals, but they need to figure out the goaltending situation if they are serious about being contenders.
Carolina Hurricanes still don't have a goaltender
The Hurricanes are another team that must figure out the salary cap situation. Carolina has just $6 million in cap space, with Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis as restricted free agents. The problem for the Hurricanes is their goaltending failed them in the postseason last season, and they didn't do anything to address that issue. Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark were two targets for them, but they moved to the New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators. Every contending team in the Eastern Conference, except the next team on our list, has an above-average goaltender.
The Hurricanes may bow out of the goaltending race and put their hopes in Pyotr Kochetkov to get the team over the top. Kochetkov has shown glimpses of being a starting goaltender, but his inconsistent play made Frederik Anderson the starter in the playoffs. The Anderson experiment ended poorly for them when he crumbled in Game 6 against the Rangers and gave up a multi-goal lead.
Toronto Maple Leafs need a reliable goaltender like John Gibson
John Gibson would be the best goaltender the Maple Leafs had in a long time. Toronto has been searching for a goaltender to help backstop their shoddy defense, but no one has been up to the task. They now face the possibility of heading into the 2024-25 season with two unproven starters. Joseph Woll has a lot of injury history and may not handle the starting load. They also signed Anthony Stolarz from the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who was Sergei Bobrovsky's backup this past season.
Stolarz looked good in his opportunities, but he also probably can't handle a starting workload. John Gibson may not be a move the Maple Leafs make in the offseason, but don't be surprised if Woll falls early or Stolarz doesn't live up to the hype and they make a deal early in the season.
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