Lenny7
Joined: Jan. 2017
Posts: 13,291
Likes: 11,051
I think the Ducks would think long and hard about this, but that Oilers would decline.
There's a simple way of looking at the Ducks with Gibson-There's zero reason to move him without being blown away by a trade offer. If the offer isn't there, there's no reason to just move him for the sake of moving him. That being said, this really mortgages the Oilers future.
It's very rare that I'll cite the eye test, because it rarely works. I'm very into analytics, and will cite them on a regular basis when valuing players. My opinion: It's pretty easy to watch Gibson and understand why many consider him to still be one of the best goalies on the planet. Just watch Dallas Eakins defensive scheme. It's basically zone defence...it looks like the Ducks are on the PK when they're in their own zone. They just stand there and wait for the puck to come to them, instead of playing with any sort of physicality. Yes, we can look at Gibby's HDsv%, and his GSAA, but neither really account for what's really going on in front of him. Packing your entire team between the puck and the net certainly creates more blocked shots, but when you don't have the type of player that plays like that, it instead creates a ridiculous screen, causing a bunch of garbage looking goals where the goalie didn't even see the puck. Pretty much equivalent to being a quarter back that can't see over his offensive line in football.
I'm a Ducks fan, so I can't sit here and say that I'm unbiased. What I can do is suggest that if you have a chance to go back and watch a few games that they played last year, judge for yourselves. There are no metrics in the world that account for how poorly coached the Ducks were last year, and why they struggled as bad as they did.