The Penguins need to get more out of their goaltending. It should be one of the focal points this summer. Problem is there aren’t a lot of great free agent options. The market is so underwhelming that re-signing Tristan Jarry on a very short term deal might be one of the more prudent paths. So yeah, not a great free agent class.

Another route would be to trade for a goaltender. A name I consistently see thrown out into the discourse is John Gibson. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I believe there are two reasons why he is a common player that comes up. The first is that he is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The second is people haven’t kept tabs on John Gibson and don’t realize what his level of play has been in recent years. It hasn’t been good.





I do not think playing for the Anaheim Ducks has helped his cause. They are a really bad team and it is tough for goaltenders when they are under siege most nights. I do not think playing for a bad team explains everything and it does not guarantee he will return to his previous level of play.

One way to account for his very bad Ducks teams is to see how his co-workers are doing in a similar environment.



The last four years John Gibson’s backups have mostly outperformed him playing behind the same team he has to. The only year in the last four he compares favorably to his backup was in 2020-21 when a 40-year-old Ryan Miller was in his last season in the NHL. Anthony Stolarz only played eight games, but was markedly better. Point being, you can’t just blame the team in front of Gibson for his numbers if he isn’t significantly outplaying the players lower on the depth chart. It would be one thing if his numbers were bad on the surface and his backups were even lower than he was. It just hasn’t been the case.

Something else I think that gets glossed over is we aren’t really talking about a young up and coming player anymore. John Gibson turns 30 years old this summer. He still has four more years left on his deal with a 6.4M cap hit. This isn’t a good bet if you are the Penguins to put your limited chips on. I wouldn’t take John Gibson’s contract from the Ducks even if it didn’t cost any assets even though you have some people offering up Jake Guentzel(!) for the struggling Gibson. There’s way too much risk and Gibson is a player who is not trending in the right direction.

I realize people desperately want to see an improvement at the goaltender position, but desperation is a stinky cologne. Wanting something badly doesn’t will it into existence. All signs point to John Gibson not being able to carry an aging team with roster holes. It would be for the best if Penguins fans pretended he wasn’t from Pittsburgh and was just another 30 year old goalie on the decline from Alberta.

Thanks for reading!

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