If Campbell is unwilling to come down from his lofty ask, the Leafs should pull the trigger on Gibson
The goaltending situation in Toronto heading to this summer is quite the quandary, given the train wreck of a season from Petr Mrazek and the pending UFA status of Jack Campbell. Right now, there are way more questions than answers and that is somewhat concerning.
Earlier this week, NHL Insider Chris Johnston reported that the ask from Jack Campbell and his camp was ~$5M per season and that a 3-year deal probably gets it done. It doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion a 30-year-old goaltender who has just one season under his belt as an NHL starter and who has never started 50+ games is not worth a $5M AAV.
At this point, if the Leafs can't get Campbell to come back down to earth on his ask - something closer to the $3.5M-$4M range, I firmly believe that they should explore paying the extra $1.4M per season and bringing in John Gibson at $6.4M for 5 more seasons.
The big concern that people seem to have with Gibson is that his numbers over the past 3 seasons haven't been good. I don't think it's any coincidence that his numbers took a dive right around the time that the Ducks became perennial bottom feeders.
The bottom line here is that John Gibson, for as bad as his previous 3 seasons have been (two of which have been COVID-shortened seasons), he still owns a career .915 SV% and has started 50+ games in 5 of the last 6 seasons.
Gibson has shown at various points throughout his career that, not only is he a starter, but he can also be an elite one. We've seen it before with goalies and players who begin to dip only to re-gain their form after a change of scenery. Perhaps a new start could help Gibson return to elite status and I don't know about you, but I'd be thrilled if that new start came in Toronto.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 1 | 306 ANSWERS If Campbell is unwilling to come down from his lofty ask, the Leafs should pull the trigger on Gibson Is John Gibson the answer in Toronto? | ||
| Yes | 189 | 61.8 % |
| No | 117 | 38.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
