John Gibson might be a good fit in Columbus

As we near the beginning of the 2025 NHL Draft, many are excited to see what could happen during the weekend in Los Angeles, but also behind the scenes between the 32 teams, with trade speculation running rampant.

One of the questions being thrown around is whether or not this is the year the Anaheim Ducks finally pull the trigger on moving goaltender John Gibson.

With the Ducks being a consistently bad team for the last several years, many have wondered if the team should trade the 31-year-old goaltender to a contender to get some assets to help build the team toward a brighter future.

One team that could utilize Gibson is the Columbus Blue Jackets. Though they have Elvis Merzlikins for two more years, a goaltender who has proven in the past that he can be a big-time player, he could be the right guy to help the Blue Jackets contend for a playoff spot next year.

There are some hurdles the Blue Jackets would have to keep in mind. Gibson has two more years on his current contract, which carries a $6.4 million cap hit. He also has a modified no-trade clause where he submits a 10-team no-trade list. On top of that, Gibson has not been the healthiest goaltender for a few years, always seeming to find himself on the injured list.

Yet, on Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli explain why Gibson could be the right guy to backstop a growing team in Columbus.

Frank Seravalli: I would think that the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the teams that’s been talking to the Anaheim Ducks about John Gibson.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Gibson deal with those two sides make a lot of sense because if you’re Anaheim, you obviously have a lot of cap space. Are they maybe a team that would sit there and go, ‘You know what, Columbus, if you’re going to sweeten the pot, we’ll take Merzlikins back. He can be our 25-game-a-year backup for Lukas Dostal, now that we’re ready to hand over the reins.’

Then, for Columbus, you’d sit there and go, ‘Yeah, we got Gibson for two years, and then Jet Greaves is going to be ready by then.’
All those timelines really add up.

Frank: Yeah, and guess what? Columbus is pretty close to Pittsburgh, where John Gibson’s from.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…