The Anaheim Ducks' Best Active Homegrown Player: Brought to You By Upper Deck
In collaboration with Upper Deck, goaltender John Gibson is the Anaheim Ducks' best active homegrown player despite his struggles in recent seasons.
The Anaheim Ducks have a rich history of drafting and successfully developing players. First, there was Paul Kariya. Then, there was Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. The current line includes the likes of Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish and Troy Terry.
The future includes Leo Carlsson among others and whomever the Ducks will select with the third overall pick. But who is the best homegrown player currently on the roster?
The answer is John Gibson. That might surprise you, especially considering his less-than-stellar performances over the past several seasons and the presence of long-tenured blueliner Cam Fowler.
But before his performances started to wane, Gibson was the team's backbone. His big saves made highlights reels on a nightly basis as he helped lead the Ducks to the Western Conference Final in 2016-17. If not for a lower-body injury that forced an early exit from Game 5 and kept him out of Game 6, a trip to the Stanley Cup Final might have been in the cards.
An early second-round pick in 2011, Gibson was a hot prospect coming out of the U.S. National Team Development Program. His star would get even brighter after he helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at World Juniors and a bronze medal at World Championships in 2013. He would also put up stellar numbers in his second OHL season with the Kitchener Rangers in 2012-13, posting a .928 SV% and 2.41 GAA with a 17-9-1 record.
Gibson concluded his first season in the AHL in 2013-14––where he went 21-16-5 with a .919 SV% and 2.34 GAA––with a cup of coffee in the NHL. Not only did he go 3-0-0 and allow just four goals on 91 shots, but he also shut out the Vancouver Canucks in his first NHL game.
He would be thrust into the spotlight sooner than expected, starting four playoff games that postseason against the Los Angeles Kings after Jonas Hiller struggled early on in the series and his replacement Andersen suffered an injury in Game 3. Gibson pitched another shutout in his playoff debut, but the Ducks eventually fell to the Kings in seven games.
Thus began a battle for the starting job between Andersen and Gibson after Hiller departed for the Calgary Flames in free agency that summer. Injuries prevented Gibson from ever gaining a firm grip on the starting job but he and Andersen did form a dynamic duo that won the William M. Jennings Trophy, the award given to "the goalie(s) "having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it" during the regular season.
It was Gibson who started for Anaheim in their first-round matchup against the Nashville Predators. But after going down 2-0, head coach Bruce Boudreau decided to go with Andersen. The Dane shut out the Predators in Game 3 and would keep the net for the rest of the series, although they would still lose in seven games.
2016-17 was Gibson’s first full season as the starter after the Ducks traded away Frederik Andersen––who was a restricted free agent––to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the summer. Gibson responded by posting a .924 save percentage (SV%) and 2.22 goals against average (GAA) in 52 games (49 starts) to go along with a 14.2 goals saved above expected (GSAx).
Following the 2017-18 season, Gibson received a Vezina Trophy vote for the first time since becoming a full-time starter. Whether it was better than his 2016-17 can be debated, with Gibson saving 13.3 goals above expected. He was a big reason why they finished second in the Pacific, eking past the San Jose Sharks thanks to a 10-1-1 run in the last 12 games of the season.
The Ducks would face those same Sharks in Round 1 of the playoffs but were easily dispatched in four games. Whether it was Gibson still feeling the effects of an injury that ended his regular season with three games to go or the Ducks unable to deal with the absence of defenseman Cam Fowler, who missed the series with a shoulder injury, it was a shocking end to the season for the Ducks.
2018-19 was a fine season for Gibson, statistically. He still saved 13.3 goals above expected, but the cracks were beginning to form. Head coach Randy Carlye's tactics continued to butt heads with the trajectory of the modern game and in turn, prevented the Ducks from playing to their full potential. Carlye was dismissed with 26 games remaining in the season and general manager Bob Murray assumed the role of interim head coach for the rest of the season.
2019-20 brought in new head coach Dallas Eakins, but the Ducks would continue to struggle, as would Gibson, who posted a putrid -18 goals saved above expected. He would lead the league in losses (26) and eclipse a 3.00 GAA for the first time in his career.
Gibson would lead the league in losses in all but one of four seasons while Eakins was at the helm. That sole season, Gibson led the league in overtime and shootout losses instead.
This past season under another new head coach in Greg Cronin, Gibson showed that he can still be a starting-caliber goaltender, capable of making big and show-stopping saves as he has many times before.
However, it felt like he was unable to consistently put together these kinds of performances throughout the season. Gibson struggled mightily especially at the end of the season, losing his last seven starts and allowing 4+ goals in each of those games. Anaheim didn't give him much help during that span either though. They were outscored 8-39 and shut out in three of those games.
Trade rumors have enveloped Gibson with every passing season that the Ducks have fallen in the standings, with the expectation that a team desperate for a goaltender will swoop in and acquire the Pittsburgh native. That hasn't been the case, with several obstacles preventing what would otherwise be a cut-and-dry acquisition for some teams.
The expectation is that Gibson will form a tandem with Lukáš Dostál next season and the goaltender who performs better regularly will get the crease.
Even if Gibson's career with the Ducks ended today, he would find his name at or near the top of many of the Ducks' goaltending leaderboards.
He is the Ducks' franchise leader in saves and games played by a goaltender and second all-time in wins behind only Jean-Sébastien Giguère (206). Gibson is also third all-time (24) in shutouts behind Giguère (32) and Guy Hebert (27), the Original Mighty Duck.
This past season marked 10 full seasons that Gibson has been in the NHL, with all 10 coming with the Ducks. No other goaltender in franchise history has played that long for them, with Giguère spending eight seasons with the team and getting traded to the Leafs during his ninth season.
Despite the lack of recent success for both Gibson and the Ducks, there is no doubt that Gibson has been an integral part of the franchise for almost a decade.
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