Proposal: No to Gibson

[Jozay]

Gibson is too risky for the Leafs. If he doesnt turn it around, that contract is brutal.

No thanks.

 

[Buds17]

I'd probably prefer to address the role via UFA. Conversely, it seems fair to suggest that the better options are to be had through trade. So much really depends upon the asking price.

 

[McSnypsky]

how bout Stolarz and Varlomov as a duo?

As for Mrazek Leafs need to get him back on ice looking healthy, then I think he gets traded more easily, as it stands now you have to pay a ton to get rid of the unknown more than the cap hit. Trade him closer to the start of the season.

 

[hamzarocks]

In their last 5 clinching games Tampa has scored a total of 8 goals, or 1.6 a game

An elite goalie certainly changes the outlook of your chances in games like that. Question is can Gibson still be elite

Vasilevsky is a top 2 goalie

Gibson even if he's rebounding is top 5 or so

He's not going to steal a game with 1 goal support like Shestorkin or Vasilevsky

 

[Lightsol]

My top options are probably Kuemper, Varlamov and Fleury.

Ugh, ugh and ugh.

 

[attackfan71]

Goalies I would rank above Gibson. And not in any order just my opion in better then Gibson.
Sherskenin
Vasilensky
Sorokin
Kuemper
Ottenger
Demko
Markstrom
Saros
Hellebuck
Andersen
Binnington
Fleury

And I’m sure I’m missing a few and I’m also sure not everyone will agree with my opinion but I think we can agree Gibson is not a top 5 goalie anymore

 

[mydnyte]

Based on the past 3-4 seasons and at his salary, Gibson is as much a dump as Mrazek.
Mrazek:
18-19 40 games, 23 wins .914
19-20 40 games 21 wins .905
20-21 12 games 6 wins .923
leafs 20 games 12 wins .888
62 wins in 112 games .554 win%

Gibson:
18-19 58 games, 26 wins .917
19-20 51 games 20 wins .904
20-21 35 games 9 wins .903
21-22 56 games 18 wins .904
73 wins in 200 games .365 win %

we ran Andersen out of town and he had far better stats (save 20-21) than Gibson or Mrazek
I dont see Gibson as our savior.
We should see if we can steal a Carter Hart, or if Winnipeg is opting for full rebuild and is willing to move Hellebuyck
or trick Lou into Keeping Varly and dealing Sorokin
Varlamov would actually be a solid pickup though and could solidify the net for 3-4 seasons
or get Florida to retain 50% on Bobrovsky and take Mrazek back too
other targets would be
Tarasov from CBJ
Vanecek/Samsonov from Was, and they may be open to taking on Mrazek to mentor whichever one they kept
Askarov would also be an obvious target and with Saros still with 3 years left and looking great, may be willing to move him for the right piece, though they'd likely need to lose Forsberg and try to snag Nylander to offer him in a blockbuster style package deal

 

[leafsfan5]

Vasilevsky is a top 2 goalie

Gibson even if he's rebounding is top 5 or so

He's not going to steal a game with 1 goal support like Shestorkin or Vasilevsky

Gibson if he rebounds is in conversation for #3 in the world

And he definitely has the ability to (if he rebounds, obviously). Do I think he'll do it for like 8 straight series like Vasi? No. But if you need someone to steal you a game he can do it

Also, we don't even really need someone to steal the game for us. We just need our goalie to not blink first in these 0-0 games

 

[mydnyte]

Gibson if he rebounds is in conversation for #3 in the world

And he definitely has the ability to (if he rebounds, obviously). Do I think he'll do it for like 8 straight series like Vasi? No. But if you need someone to steal you a game he can do it

Also, we don't even really need someone to steal the game for us. We just need our goalie to not blink first in these 0-0 games

Gibson at his best was never in conversation for top 3, so, its unlikely he would be even if he rebounded.

 

[leafsfan5]

Gibson at his best was never in conversation for top 3, so, its unlikely he would be even if he rebounded.

After his 17-18 season Gibson should have absolutely been in conversation for top 3

Also, even if he wasn't, your statement implies the current competition is equivalent to the competition when Gibson was at his best. Is that even the case. Right now, there's a clear top 2 in the league followed by a drop off and fight for the #3 position between the likes of Sorokin, Helly, Saros etc. Gibson back in in form could put him there

 

[rocketman588]

I think we would have to exhaust all free options first. Then shake cages and see what best options via trade and rank them accordingly.

If Oettinger was in some rare circumstance an available option...

He's an RFA but we'd have to aquire the capital

Interesting bargain bin options if we want to gamble might be someone like khudobin or grubauer

We could get both for very little, and maybe get retention on them as well. Obviously a risk however.

Kicking the tires on hart might be worthwhile as well

 

[TheScandal89]

Theres definitely fear inside me that we'll acquire him and he'll be another Raycroft

 

[BrannigansLaw]

I’d rather go all in on a goaltender with elite talent that can’t be taught and is a workhorse like Gibson than try to find bargain bin guys like Campbell, Mrazek, Kuemper, Koskinen (lol) or any other mediocre option out there praying for them to excel here.

I realize Gibson has struggled but the Ducks suck and you can tell from his body language he’s not particularly thrilled to be there for another rebuild. Bringing him here would reinvigorate him. And goaltending should not be the position you choose to be cheap. Dump Mrazek and bring him in.

 

[Kurtz]

Gibson isn't bouncing around though. He's had the same consistently mediocre SV% for three seasons in a row.

.904
.903
.904

He might have been the best goalie in the world from 2015-2018 but this is who he is now.

Yet Price had similar numbers in 3 out of his last 4 seasons (excluding this one off course) and yet we saw what he can do during the last playoff run.

The thing is...there is no logical reason for Gibson to have such a drop-off if not for the team factor. He's only 28 and he hasn't suffered from a significant injury.

We've seen goalies come into the league on fire but then quickly drop off in the following seasons when teams figured them out (Carey, Raycroft, Lalime). But Gibson was an all-star in 3 out of his first 4 full seasons. No reason to think that he had some critical flaw that teams couldn't find for 4 seasons. And it's too long to have been a fluke. So I have to go back as the team being the likeliest reason that he's struggled.

 

[tmlms13]

Theres definitely fear inside me that we'll acquire him and he'll be another Raycroft

Or Bernier, or Toskola

 

[Kurtz]

Or Bernier, or Toskola

All 3 guys suffered from the same issue - small sample size when we acquired them. Gibson is in a different category. He probably has more in common with Belfour than those 3 guys.

 

[tmlms13]

All 3 guys suffered from the same issue - small sample size when we acquired them. Gibson is in a different category. He probably has more in common with Belfour than those 3 guys.

Didn't have to give up assets to get Belfour

 

[Blaylock38]

Indeed he has.

Husso took over the starter role by the end of the season and was the starter for game 1 of the payoffs, and with good reason.

Last season
Husso - 2341 mins, 2.56GAA, .919sv%
Binnington - 2145 mins, 3.13GAA, .901sv%

Obviously he had that magical rookie year run, and then for the 5 games in the playoffs this year he was terrific again. But on the "clutch" flipside the Blues 2 previous playoffs:

Binnington - 0 wins and 9 losses, 4.19GAA, .875sv%
Allen - 2 wins and 2 losses, 1.89GAAm .935sv%

Binnington still appears to be a capable 1A/1B caliber goalies but a steady decline over the last 3 years has him trending quickly toward Matt Murray territory.

Binnington was nice in the playoffs though this year:

Playoffs

6

4

1

0

315

176

9

1.72

0.949

 

[Menzinger]

I don't really see the fit.

I'm not 100% against the idea but ultimately his caphit is too high with too much term and too many question marks surrounding his play from the last three seasons.....

I'd also worry how he'd react to being under the Toronto media microscope after playing his entire career in a very sheltered environment. Also, it's not as if he has a lengthy history of being a proven playoff performer. He's almost 30 and had exactly 1 deep run under his belt.

 

[Menzinger]

Price had a save percentage of .900% in 17-18 season, then bounced back with .918%, then fell down to .909% the following season, and back down to .901% the season after (before taking his team to the finals).

Good goalies can have some mediocre years on paper when the team in front of them sucks.


I asked ANA fans about this fact, they said Stolarz tended to get his starts against weaker teams.

Goalies are definitely voodoo. But a fallacy is presuming just because a guy like Price managed to bounce back, it's a sure thing the same thing will happen to Gibson

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I don't really see the fit.

I'm not 100% against the idea but ultimately his caphit is too high with too much term and too many question marks surrounding his play from the last three seasons.....

I'd also worry how he'd react to being under the Toronto media microscope after playing his entire career in a very sheltered environment. Also, it's not as if he has a lengthy history of being a proven playoff performer. He's almost 30 and had exactly 1 deep run under his belt.

I can see the fit.

The matter comes down to how much risk do you want for the potential reward; risk coming both in terms of his contract and what we have to give up, and reward being what he actually can bring to the table.

In terms of reasonable upside, there is nobody besides Hellebuyck who is even remotely available who can match his upside. Possibly not even coming close to it.

However, in terms of risk, there is also nobody riskier than him just from contract alone... Never mind giving up good assets for him.

The decision should not be overly complicated though. Even before they talk to Anaheim, they will know if they like Gibson as a guy who can get them over the hump, and they will know if that contract is tolerable for them relative to how they view him. The only thing which should waiver their belief is any input from the new goalie coach they bring in, which should be their top priority right now because we need that guy's input on whoever we bring in. Then it comes down to the price, and they should have realistic parameters about that as well. You call Anaheim, see what they want, and they will know right away if they are close.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

The skill level of goalies at the NHL level is to close that it's not worth bringing in a contract like Gibson. Everyone talks about age and how goalies have a later peek than skaters. This simply isn't true. Gibson will be 29 to start next season. People think the Leafs should go after Keumper who is 32. Even Vasilevskiy at 27 has seen his best days behind him. Shesterkin, who I consider to be the best in the world will likely see this season as his career best.

The reason for the "later" peek has to do with teams not allowing goalies to play when they are actually in their primes. Look at Edmonton and their insistence of using a 40 year old Smith, when they have a better goalie in Stuart Skinner rotting away in the minors.

The Leafs need to go younger. Use Woll/Kallgren, trade for Gustavsson in Ottawa, get Blackwood.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

lol campbell save % might have scraped below 80% if he was on ducks in regular season if he can barely touch 89% for leafs after certain point. swap teams and gibson would be consistent 92%.

 

[Hoverhand]

Yet Price had similar numbers in 3 out of his last 4 seasons (excluding this one off course) and yet we saw what he can do during the last playoff run.

The thing is...there is no logical reason for Gibson to have such a drop-off if not for the team factor. He's only 28 and he hasn't suffered from a significant injury.

We've seen goalies come into the league on fire but then quickly drop off in the following seasons when teams figured them out (Carey, Raycroft, Lalime). But Gibson was an all-star in 3 out of his first 4 full seasons. No reason to think that he had some critical flaw that teams couldn't find for 4 seasons. And it's too long to have been a fluke. So I have to go back as the team being the likeliest reason that he's struggled.

Gibson's Goals Saved Above Expected has been abysmal the last 3 seasons as well suggesting that poor team performance is not the catalyst behind his poor play.

Maybe the change of scenery does him a lot of good but there's just too many red flags to take a chance on that contract.

 

[socko]

Mrazek, Holl, and a 2nd round pick for Robert Lehner.

Lehner has high upside, better than Gibson in recent years.

He's a big goalie.: 6'4" 250 lbs.

Golden Knights fans have turned on Lehner.

Knights need to find playing time for Broissoit.

I want to get rid of Mrazek and Holl.