Speculation: 2023-24 Free Agency/Trade Thread

[duxfan1101]

This is moderately interesting. He has had some issues the last couple of years but he’s historically a great finisher. We already kind of have too many forwards, though.

 

[MMC]

This is moderately interesting. He has had some issues the last couple of years but he’s historically a great finisher. We already kind of have too many forwards, though.
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A low effort player whose production fell off a cliff is of no interest to me and likely of no interest to our management as well

 

[JAHV]

The Ducks had the opportunity to pick him up last year when the Red Wings were trying to dump him on somebody. They passed then, and I have to think that Verbeek, having come from the Red Wings organization, has seen up close that Vrana is not the kind of player he wants on the team.

He's certainly got the ability to score when he's in the lineup and motivated. But I think the problem is that too often he's not in the lineup and/or motivated. No thanks.

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

Really thought this was behind us, apparently not.

 

[Gliff]

Really thought this was behind us, apparently not.

Honestly now makes the most sense. Gibson has proven he was not the problem during the Dallas days, the Ducks are still rebuilding and Gibby wants to win.

I would imagine the conversation PV had with Gibby was, "hey look, we would love to send you to a contender but we arent going to give you up for nothing and noone thinks you are worth it. Play hard this year and rebuild the respect around the league for you and we will look at the options next deadline".

The Devils are a perfect match.

 

[duxfan1101]

Honestly now makes the most sense. Gibson has proven he was not the problem during the Dallas days, the Ducks are still rebuilding and Gibby wants to win.

I would imagine the conversation PV had with Gibby was, "hey look, we would love to send you to a contender but we arent going to give you up for nothing and noone thinks you are worth it. Play hard this year and rebuild the respect around the league for you and we will look at the options next deadline".

The Devils are a perfect match.

Vanecek + Brendan Smith + would probably be the base.

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

Honestly now makes the most sense. Gibson has proven he was not the problem during the Dallas days, the Ducks are still rebuilding and Gibby wants to win.

I would imagine the conversation PV had with Gibby was, "hey look, we would love to send you to a contender but we arent going to give you up for nothing and noone thinks you are worth it. Play hard this year and rebuild the respect around the league for you and we will look at the options next deadline".

The Devils are a perfect match.

If Dostal looked more consistent I would agree with you but I feel like sending Gibson now means several more long losing streaks this season. I just don't know if bottom of the barrel is what Pat had in mind for this season, but maybe these past few weeks has set things back?

 

[Leonardo87]

Losing Gibson would set this team back a couple years in the rebuild, imo. Dostal is still not there yet to take on the starters role, and would be throwing him to the wolves destroying his confidence, if Gibby leaves now.

Unless we are getting a Top 6 forward back with a 1st round pick, have no interest in moving Gibson

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

Losing Gibson would set this team back a couple years in the rebuild, imo. Dostal is still not there yet to take on the starters role, and would be throwing him to the wolves destroying his confidence, if Gibby leaves now.

Unless we are getting a Top 6 forward back with a 1st round pick, have no interest in moving Gibson

Agreed. Or a goalie that is further along than Dostal + a good forward, and Gibson alone wouldn't pull that.

 

[Gliff]

The question would be return.

All their top prospects/young NHLers are defesnemen and either not going nto move the needle or nonstarters. Hugher, Nemec, Casey, Vilen. Their 1st and 2nd this year is tied up in the conditions of the Meier trade and cant be moved until after the season. I'm not really interested in a 2025 pick that is likely to be a bottom 10 pick.

So unless it is a lot of quantity coming back in the form of picks, or something crazy like Mercer coming back, I'm not sure it will be worth it for the Ducks.

Vanecek + Brendan Smith + would probably be the base.

I'm sorry but that is just ridiculous. Smith is a 34 year old cap dump, and Vanecek has not shown he can be a legit #1 on a contending team. Hence NJ wanting to move on. So that + better be a lot more.

 

[duxfan1101]

I'm sorry but that is just ridiculous. Smith is a 34 year old cap dump, and Vanecek has not shown he can be a legit #1 on a contending team. Hence NJ wanting to move on. So that + better be a lot more.

Ya that's the point. Those two are there to balance out the salary as much as possible. Then they should add something on value on top of that.

 

[Gliff]

Ya that's the point. Those two are there to balance out the salary as much as possible. Then they should add something on value on top of that.

So more like ___+___+Vanecek + Brendan Smith haha.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Losing Gibson would set this team back a couple years in the rebuild, imo. Dostal is still not there yet to take on the starters role, and would be throwing him to the wolves destroying his confidence, if Gibby leaves now.

Unless we are getting a Top 6 forward back with a 1st round pick, have no interest in moving Gibson

I disagree. Gibson is not the backbone to the rebuild. As long as the young guys learn to score consistently and play defense consistently we will have a vastly improved team. That's when we can decide if goaltending is an issue or not. And if it is, Gibby wouldn't be the savior 3-4 years from now anyway.

If the return is good, ship him off now before his value completely tanks.

 

[Leonardo87]

I disagree. Gibson is not the backbone to the rebuild. As long as the young guys learn to score consistently and play defense consistently we will have a vastly improved team. That's when we can decide if goaltending is an issue or not. And if it is, Gibby wouldn't be the savior 3-4 years from now anyway.

If the return is good, ship him off now before his value completely tanks.

If the return is good then yeah, but will it be good? That is my concern and why I said unless we are getting this or that. Dostal needs another season.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

If the return is good then yeah, but will it be good? That is my concern and why I said unless we are getting this or that. Dostal needs another season.

Gibby is never going to return a pot of gold. Getting out of his contract, to me, is a positive. It would easily pay to sign a quality forward to help move the rebuild along. You can buy a lot with a $6.4M AAV

 

[Gliff]

Gibby is never going to return a pot of gold. Getting out of his contract, to me, is a positive. It would easily pay to sign a quality forward to help move the rebuild along. You can buy a lot with a $6.4M AAV

Moving a #1 goalie to get out of the contract when the Ducks have the second most cap space in the league is just crazy. Its 6.4 for 3 more years, not 12 mil for 7 years.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Moving a #1 goalie to get out of the contract when the Ducks have the second most cap space in the league is just crazy. Its 6.4 for 3 more years, not 12 mil for 7 years.

Just because we can afford to pay him doesn't mean it isn't good business to sell high when we aren't competitive. The key point being, he is not a critical piece to the rebuild. We're the worst team in the league again even with his improved play.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Something like
Vanecek + 1st/mercer
For
Gibson

Would at least spark my interest, but I think the devils with gibson makes that 1st less appealing

 

[Gliff]

Just because we can afford to pay him doesn't mean it isn't good business to sell high when we aren't competitive. The key point being, he is not a critical piece to the rebuild. We're the worst team in the league again even with his improved play.

Have you seen NHL goalie contracts? Average starters are getting almost as much as Gibson.

Kuemper: 5.25
Husso: 4.75
Murray: 6.25
Binnington: 6
Grubauer: 5.9
Merz;inkins: 5.4
Jarry: 5.4

I can go on and on. Even if Gibson is an average starter he is barely overpaid. If they trade him they will be paying worse UFA goalie atleast 5 mil to fill the gap.

Something like
Vanecek + 1st/mercer
For
Gibson

Would at least spark my interest, but I think the devils with gibson makes that 1st less appealing

Mercer makes the most sense IMO.

 

[JAHV]

I disagree. Gibson is not the backbone to the rebuild. As long as the young guys learn to score consistently and play defense consistently we will have a vastly improved team. That's when we can decide if goaltending is an issue or not. And if it is, Gibby wouldn't be the savior 3-4 years from now anyway.

If the return is good, ship him off now before his value completely tanks.

I agree completely. I'm not a Gibson hater by any means, but I am a subscriber to the theory that you don't need an elite goaltender to win a Cup (not that Gibson is any longer). The Ducks can find a solid goaltender somewhere when they're ready to compete. And now that Gibson has returned to respectability, the Ducks should take advantage of the opportunity, get out of the contract, and get an asset or two back that can help them.

If the return is good then yeah, but will it be good? That is my concern and why I said unless we are getting this or that. Dostal needs another season.

Dostal might need another season, but Stalock is available. And the return just needs to be one asset that will make the team better in the upcoming years (i.e. not a draft pick and not an over-30 guy). If they take back Vanacek and Brendan Smith in the process, no big deal. But I would give up another asset (a pick or a lesser D prospect) to get Dawson Mercer in return, for example. That would be a win for the Ducks.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Have you seen NHL goalie contracts? Average starters are getting almost as much as Gibson.

Kuemper: 5.25
Husso: 4.75
Murray: 6.25
Binnington: 6
Grubauer: 5.9
Merz;inkins: 5.4
Jarry: 5.4

I can go on and on. Even if Gibson is an average starter he is barely overpaid. If they trade him they will be paying worse UFA goalie atleast 5 mil to fill the gap.

Nobody has to be paid to replace him until it's proven we don't have the solution in house. And by the time we are serious contenders, we will either have an in-house solution or will have to pay somebody anyway because keeping Gibson solves nothing that far down the road.

And maybe I should add, his piss poor on ice attitude when things aren't going well is not beneficial to the development of the younger players. He's displayed it multiple times over the years. Time to move on.

 

[Gliff]

Nobody has to be paid to replace him until it's proven we don't have the solution in house. And by the time we are serious contenders, we will either have an in-house solution or will have to pay somebody anyway because keeping Gibson solves nothing that far down the road.

And maybe I should add, his piss poor on ice attitude when things aren't going well is not beneficial to the development of the younger players. He's displayed it multiple times over the years. Time to move on.

San Jose is paying their goalies 5.1 mil.
Chicago: 4.75
Columbus: 6.5
Seattle 9.5
Montreal 5.7

Where do you get this idea that the Ducks are cool with putting out some guy who has no shot at winning? Even bad teams pay goalies. If the Ducks trade Gibson they will likely save like 1-2 mil a year even if they dont take back a non-goalie cap dump.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

San Jose is paying their goalies 5.1 mil.
Chicago: 4.75
Columbus: 6.5
Seattle 9.5
Montreal 5.7

Where do you get this idea that the Ducks are cool with putting out some guy who has no shot at winning? Even bad teams pay goalies. If the Ducks trade Gibson they will likely save like 1-2 mil a year even if they dont take back a non-goalie cap dump.

Ya not trading gibson for cap space, only way it makes sense to trade him is

- he demanded one
- were being offered a good enough asset, that is worth losing him

Idk if anyone is going to offer that

 

[KickHisAssZegrass]

I think the main reason Gibby hasnt been traded is because GMs dont want to give up much for him. I certainly can't see the Devils including Mercer in a Gibby trade. Maybe Holtz + Vanecek for Gibby retained a mill or two.

 

[duxfan1101]

I would love Mercer, but I’d be shocked if he were on the table for Gibson. The best pieces I would expect to be possible would be a 1st, one of NJ’s better forward prospects, or maybe Holtz.

Even those options might be wishful thinking, though.