His name has been involved in trade rumours for years, but it feels like this time Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson may finally be moved. The 31-year-old, once regarded as an elite NHL goaltender, has seen his stock drop off in dramatic fashion over the past four or five seasons. Thanks to his contract getting closer to its expiration date, paired with his strong 2024-25 campaign, however, there is plenty of speculation surrounding his future yet again.
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One team who has been heavily linked to Gibson is the Edmonton Oilers. Adding a goaltender has been the Oilers’ priority for some time as Stuart Skinner hasn’t done a very good job in proving he’s a clear-cut number one. Adding Gibson to compete with him for starts would be beneficial for the Oilers, and based on a new report, he wants to be a part of the Stanley-Cup-contending group.
“One of the things I’ve heard during the season [is] that Gibson’s preferences are Edmonton and Carolina … the Edmonton thing is really interesting, because I don’t know where it came from last week, I didn’t see it, but someone told me there was some talk about the Oilers and Gibson,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his latest 32 Thoughts Podcast. “The one thing I heard is that Gibson wants a situation where he’s going to be a number one, and it’s going to be his job. He wants to be the guy.”
“I don’t know if a Gibson/Skinner duo is going to work for him … I think Gibson wants the chance to go on a run and prove he can be the guy on a top team,” Friedman continued. “If it’s the Gibson/Skinner combo, I’m not sure that’s going to appeal to him.”
Oilers Better off Sticking With Skinner
Based on Friedman’s comments, it sounds like if the Oilers wanted to acquire Gibson, who has a modified no-trade list, they would need to move on from Skinner. That’s certainly intriguing given Skinner’s struggles this season and Gibson’s past success, but doing so would be a huge risk that isn’t worth taking for the Oilers.
Skinner has already proven that, while far from perfect, he’s capable of carrying his team to great heights. After a bit of a bump in the second round last year, he went on to help lead the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final. Was he perfect? No, but he did the job well enough. There’s no guarantee Gibson is capable of doing that.
As mentioned, Gibson was considered a top-tier goalie early on in his NHL career. In his first five seasons, he posted save percentages (SV%) of .914, .920, .924, .926, and .917. That .917 SV% came back in 2018-19, and continued to suggest he would be a great starting netminder moving forward. Since then, however, there’s been a drop off that nobody saw coming.
In 2019-20, Gibson took a big step backward, finishing the season with a .904 SV%. Since then, he’s posted SV%’s of .903, .904, .899, and .888. To his credit, he’s been much better in 2024-25 with a .915 SV%, but it’s come in just 23 appearances as Lukas Dostal has taken over the starting position. It’s far from a guarantee those numbers would continue from Gibson if he was given another opportunity as a number one.
Oilers Have Other Needs
What makes acquiring Gibson an even bigger risk is that he carries a $6.4 million cap hit through the 2026-27 season. The Ducks do have a ridiculous amount of cap space which would allow them to retain some of that deal, but again, it sounds as though bringing in Gibson may require a Skinner trade. Moving out the 26-year-old to bring in a question-mark option for not only this season but the two afterward is an unnecessary risk for a team in its contending window.
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Though a goaltending upgrade in Edmonton would be nice, there’s no guarantee Gibson would be that upgrade. Instead, the Oilers, who don’t have a ton of cap space, would be much better off trying to either improve their blue line or scoring depth on the wing ahead of what should be another lengthy playoff run.
