Thank goodness, the Toronto Maple Leafs are not interested in goaltender John Gibson.
After many reports that they were interested in John Gibson, Chris Johnston reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs have made their decision not to pursue the Anaheim Ducks goaltender.
What a relief!
Gibson has a $6.4M AAV deal for the next five years and has steadily been declining for the past three years. He’s a good goaltender, but trading for him and taking on that salary isn’t an improvement on UFA Jack Campbell.
As it currently stands, we have no idea what’s going to happen with Campbell.
Will he sign an extension in Toronto, or will he pursue free agency? That decision will come in the next few weeks and until the Leafs know what Campbell is going to do, they can’t move forward with another goaltender option.
Gibson is only 28-years-old and has many years left in the tank to turn back the clock, but his $6.4M contract isn’t worth the risk. Unless you have a guaranteed rockstar in net, it probably makes sense to go with the cheaper tandem, then to pay one guy who is OK at a price-tag similar to William Nylander.
Toronto Maple Leafs Make Great Decision to Not Pursue Gibson
If Jack Campbell can agree to a contract less than $5M AAV to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs next season, then Toronto needs to bring Campbell back. Campbell’s shown enough over the past two years and the only goaltender’s who have beaten him are Carey Price and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Both goaltender’s made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals after beating Toronto and it’s not like they really outplayed Campbell while doing so. The Leafs offense has gone cold in Game 7’s and Campbell hasn’t been the reason for their loss.
Based on the market right now, Toronto should still be able to secure Campbell for a reasonable price and both sides should run it back.
If Toronto ended up trading for Gibson, the team won’t be able to upgrade their bottom-six to the best of their ability and they would be a weaker team. If Gibson was a legit top-five goaltender in the league, then you make the trade in a heartbeat.
However, unless you have a top-three goaltender in the NHL, it doesn’t really make sense to pay big bucks for one.
Similarly to the NHL Draft and top-five overall picks.
If you don’t have a top-five pick, you may as well trade out of the First Round and secure more assets. Only the top few make a huge difference to an organization and Toronto should understand that when it comes to their goaltending situation.
Thank goodness Gibson isn’t in the cards anymore, so Toronto can pursue someone cheaper and better suited for this team that should be able to outscore their problems, anyway.