The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to overhaul their goaltending department. That’s no secret. Goaltending was their major issue last season.
They finished fourth in NHL standings despite ranking 22nd in save percentage (.900). Who knows where they could have finished with at least league average goaltending. (Stats from statmuse)
Goaltending coach, Steve Briere has been fired. Jack Campbell is still unsigned, and Petr Mrazek was placed on waivers with no takers.
There have been a lot of rumours about who the Toronto Maple Leafs will have in net next season, but the loudest rumours seem to indicate Anaheim Ducks goaltender, John Gibson, as a real possibility.
Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the idea at first. Gibson’s contract is a little scary at $6.4 million AAV with five years remaining. Gibson’s save percentages of .904, .903 and .904 over the last three seasons also seem underwhelming.
John Gibson has been an elite starting goaltender in the past though, and his recent stats may be a reflection of the bad Ducks teams he’s been on for the past few seasons. He faced the 7th most shots in the NHL last year and the Ducks haven’t been a playoff team the last four seasons.
What might be most valuable about John Gibson is his ability to take on a heavy workload as a starter and his apparent resilience to injury. Those are two things the Toronto Maple Leafs have been lacking in goal for the past two season.
John Gibson’s longest injury since joining the NHL was a mere nine game layoff in 2019. He could start up to 60 games.
A John Gibson Trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs
After thinking about it, there is a way that a John Gibson trade makes sense to me, and here’s my interpretation of what the trade could look like:
Jake Muzzin has a no-trade clause, but the rumour is that he’d waive it to go back to the Los Angeles area. He played eight seasons with the LA Kings. I’m not sure if his wife is from there, but he proposed and they were married while Muzzin was with the Kings, and the couple had a life there.
I like Jake Muzzin, but right now, he seems like the most expendable higher priced player on the Toronto Maple Leafs ($5.625 million AAV). He is also getting a little older and had two concussions last season. With Mark Giordano joining the team, and the eminent promotions of Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin, the Leafs blueline seems a bit crowded.
Jake Muzzin is still a top four defenseman though, and the Ducks may need that after trading Hampus Lindholm and Josh Mason late last season. Muzzin is arguably be the best player in this deal.
What the Anaheim Ducks would really want in this deal though is a decent draft pick. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been unwilling to trade a 1st round pick for a goaltender and there aren’t many goalies who would go for a 1st rounder, specially goalies with average stats and big salaries with term like Gibson. A 2nd round pick seems fair.
Jake Muzzin and a 2nd round pick for John Gibson seems like a lopsided deal for the Ducks, so Derek Grant, two 4th round picks and taking on Petr Mrazek’s contract seem to even it out. The Ducks will need a goaltender to help out Anthony Stolarz, so they might find some value in Mrazek.
Derek Grant is a 6’3, 32 year old, versatile two-way forward with one year left at $1.5 million. He’s not going to be a big part of the Ducks future, but he could help out the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. He’s a middle six forward that plays a similar style to Pierre Engvall or Ilya Mikeyev. He’s big but not overly physical; a good replacement for Mikheyev.
Joey Duszak is a throw-in by the Toronto Maple Leafs that the Anaheim Ducks may find value in. He’s only 24 and was a 2nd team All-Star in the AHL last season. He requested a trade to find more opportunity to break into the NHL, and he may find it in Anaheim.
The Anaheim Ducks have lots of cap space right now, so they won’t care much about the two-year terms on Muzzin and Mrazek, they might be more concerned if they kept Gibson’s $6.5 million for five years.
The Toronto Maple Leafs would clear $1.425 million in cap space with this trade which they could obvious use elsewhere. They might not even need to spend it on a backup goaltender if they decide to rely on Joseph Woll and/or Erik Kallgren for 25 games, and they could wait until the trade deadline to add a goalie for insurance.