In the same week that he traded Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek continued his process of transitioning the organization into a new era by trading goaltender John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings for a 2027 second-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick and goaltender Petr Mrázek.

On Saturday afternoon, Verbeek met with local media via video conference call. Below is a full transcript of the conference call, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length:

It seemed like this deal was something that gestated for a bit of time here. 
What were the elements in it that pushed it over the finish line? 

Well, I think just trying to make sure that we get fair value for John Gibson. 
He's a really good goalie. 1 A, 1B, whatever you want to talk about. I think the circumstance of John and (his agent) Kurt Overhardt and myself working together to give John a fresh start and a new place was something that we worked for. It was much like Cam Fowler looking for a fresh start, we were able to kind of provide John with a fresh start.

You know Petr Mrázek (from your time in Detroit). What do you envision? What role can he play alongside (Lukáš Dostál) there? Do you envision a number of starts that he could make?

We're certainly going to be counting on him for at least 30 starts. 
I think the cool thing is, Lukáš and Petr were teammates at the World Championships. They're very familiar with one another. They're good friends and I think Petr's very competitive. Having that relationship, I feel that they're going to push each other really hard to be the best, and I think it'll be a good tandem.

How much did Gibson seek out a fresh start, a new home?

Well, it was discussions over the last couple of years. The relationship with myself, John and the agent, I think it was such that if there was an opportunity to move, he would welcome it. But, there was always a caveat that it had to make sense for the Ducks as well, and they both understood that. And so we worked on that premise. 
And so today, it just happened to get to the finish line. I think it's a good thing for John and for (our) team.

You had said in previous interviews regarding Gibson and a trade that you had a value in mind, you kind of stuck to it and said the deal just didn't make sense at any time. So, why did it finally make sense now in the value sense?

The way the contract is set up, John had two years left. 
I think that made sense for both Detroit and for us to kind of move forward from that perspective, Detroit gets two years of a No. 1 goaltender. For us, we're able to give ourselves a little more flexibility with Petr Mrázek coming back on a one-year contract. And then the picks, the future picks, were something that we were able to acquire, which makes sense. 
So, at some point, hopefully, we'll be able to use those assets for other things to improve our team in other areas that we feel that we need to shore up.

Can you speak a bit on how Dostál's rise kind of made this more of a comfortable move for you guys to not just have two solid goaltenders, but to kind of lean into Dostál a bit more?

I think seeing Lukáš play 54 games probably helped last year. I'm not sure that I want him to play that many; it's a lot of games. And so, bringing in Mrázek, he's carried the load for different teams at different times. That experience that he has in that area made it more comfortable to be able to do that. 
We had a really good tandem last year and I wasn't really crazy about breaking up the tandem. But I think getting a goaltender that I felt comfortable with coming back, who could support Lukáš, made the difference.

Gibson had some level of trade protection. 
You have to look at the market. I imagine that prior to this point, there was a lot of talk about retention. You guys didn't retain a dime in this deal. Talk about some of the obstacles previously, when you guys had talks, and how the process was. Did you want to make sure that Gibson was comfortable, or were you more going off his no-trade list and just trying to find a franchise that wasn't on it?

You guys can look around the league, you can look around at who's got No. 1 goaltenders. So you have to overcome that obstacle, and then there's another obstacle with the no-trade list. 
At some point, Gibby opened up his list for other opportunities after they'd arisen. So it allowed us to kind of expand the discussions with other teams, and ultimately, Detroit ended up stepping up in the last couple of days to push through to get a deal done.

You get a veteran netminder back (in Mrázek) on a one-year term. What do you think about your pipeline? Last year, (Tomáš) Suchánek had a major injury. (Damian) Clara moved around developmentally and you drafted a goaltender (Elijah Neuenschwander) in the fourth round. 
Where do you see things shaping up, maybe as far as quality of the pipeline, ETAs? Any insight you could share there?

Yeah, I think the pipeline is in good shape. It's just a matter now of finding a good third goaltender for us, and, ultimately, if we're able to do that, sign that. If we have any injuries up top, it allows to be able to call that third goaltender up to support either goalie. It also allows San Diego to have a good goaltender to carry a lot of the load and allow our younger guys to keep maturing. The goaltenders, they just take longer. It's a difficult position to play and they just need more time. 
And so I feel comfortable with how things are kind of set up at this point to kind of allow our younger guys to keep competing, keep developing for that next spot in San Diego.

Do you think Ville Husso might be a candidate for that No. 3 job?

Yeah, I would say that's a good guess. He'd be a guy who could be very helpful in that role, yes.

Was Detroit on Gibson's no-trade list?

No, they weren't on his no-trade list. If they were, then we wouldn't have traded him there.

(Red Wings GM) Steve Yzerman said earlier today that he'd kind of looked into Gibson at the trade deadline (this past season) and that it didn't work out because of injuries. Is that true?

That's correct, yes.

How would you say this deal impacts your negotiations with
 Dostál and his agent, if at all?

I don't think that's going to affect anything at all. Lukáš is a good goalie and we'll go about going through the process that we normally do when we negotiate contracts. 

Featured image caption: Mar 5, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (36) looks on during the third period against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images