Leafs reporter suggests a brutal trade proposal involving William Nylander
One former Leafs radio personality has returned to the surface with another egregious take regarding William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's no secret that there have been issues between player and team regarding his contract extension and because of that - as well as Auston Matthews' new contract and possibly breaking up the core - trade rumours have been popping up left, right, and centre.
Howard Berger by no means was insinuating that a trade was on the horizon or that either team have been talking but he did start off by saying that he would hesitate on the idea of moving Nylander. In saying that he would trade the Swedish forward to Anaheim for goaltender, John Gibson saying that he could be the best goaltender in Toronto since Curtis Joseph.
Gibson has spent his entire 10-year career in Anaheim and has sported a 180-179-59 record with a 2.83 G.A.A and a .912 SV%. From 2013-14 to 2018-19, Gibson went 119-77-28 with a 2.42 G.A.A and a .921 SV%. In the following 4 seasons, he has led the league in losses 3 times and has a 61-102-31 record with a 3.32 G.A.A and a .902 SV%. The Ducks have missed the playoffs every year since 2018-19 and have been absolutely abhorrent to say the least.
It's been reported a few times that Gibson wants out of the rebuilding Anaheim landscape but he refuted the most recent report. He has 3 years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of 6.4 million.
In theory the trade may not be the worst thing in the world, because I truly believe Gibson is still a great goaltender but has been brought down by the Ducks' defense (or lack thereof) and struggling team in general. A career .912 SV% is pretty good, .902 SV% over the last 4 seasons considering the team in front of him isn't egregiously bad, and we've seen what he can do in the right setting. However, the Leafs have Matt Murray and Joseph Woll under contract with Ilya Samsonov possibly headed for salary arbitration.
The Ducks would have to give up a lot more than just Gibson and they'd have to take on the final year of Matt Murray in the proposed deal at full pop, absolutely no questions asked. On paper, Gibson could make a difference, however the intricacies behind a deal of this magnitude wouldn't be worth it for either team.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 6 | 1861 ANSWERS Leafs reporter suggests a brutal trade proposal involving William Nylander Would you do a trade centered around William Nylander for John Gibson? | ||
| Yes | 535 | 28.7 % |
| No | 1120 | 60.2 % |
| LOFL! | 206 | 11.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
