Flyers speculated as destination for John Gibson

The Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks combined to make one of the biggest trades of 2024. Could they work together once again to end a longstanding saga and potentially fix a massive problem for the Orange and Black?

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On Friday’s edition of the “32 Thoughts” podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman talked at length about Ducks netminder John Gibson potentially being moved after years and years of trade rumors involving his name. And he just so happened to throw the Flyers in the mix as a potential landing spot for the 31-year-old netminder, with additional context for what a trade means for the player.

“The other thing Gibson has to realize, and I think he has realized this, is that he can’t be picky about where he goes. He has a no-trade clause, he was very picky about where he was going to go, but it’s like Fowler. Cam Fowler had a no-trade clause except three or four teams,” Friedman said. “He knew he had to bend it. ‘If I just want to go play, I may have to go somewhere I don’t want to.’ And he’s ended up in St. Louis and it’s great for him.

“Gibson is going to have to do the same thing. He might have to say ‘You know this isn’t a place I thought of initially, but if I really want out of here,’ and I think he wants to get out of there and [the Ducks] want to move on from him too, he might have to go someplace where it wasn’t initially as thought. I know Carolina is upper most in his mind, and it’s been something that the Hurricanes have danced with from time to time. … I have to tell you something, I’m watching Philly tonight. I wonder if that makes any sense for them and they have done deals with Anaheim.”

It is true. The Hurricanes and John Gibson have been endlessly linked to one another, and it seems like the more obvious move, but Friedman would not throw the Flyers in the conversation for no reason whatsoever. Especially with the massive context that Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek and Flyers general manager Danny Briere have obviously done this before regarding a fairly sizeable move with maligned prospect Cutter Gauthier heading out west and defenseman Jamie Drysdale coming to Philadelphia.

Gibson’s contract run through the 2026-27 season and has a $6.4-million AAV. And while the 31-year-old had a rough couple of years as the Ducks were at the bottom of the league, he has bounced back this season to a very respectable .914 save percentage and a 2.64 goals against average — making his contract perfectly understandable for a goaltender of his caliber. And the contract might just work perfectly for the Flyers too, if they were to make a move like this.

In Philadelphia, the current three-headed monster of Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov has proved to be fruitless. Ersson has always been better as a very good backup and has shown he cannot really handle being the top guy in a tandem. Fedotov is a nice story but he has third-string netminder written all over him at the NHL level. And then there’s Kolosov who is just 22 years old and has runway to become a fully fledged big-league goalie, but he should be in the AHL to develop. So now, we are just waiting for one of 19-year-old Carson Bjarnason or Egor Zavragin to turn professional in North America and rise to the NHL. That will take years.

Gibson being a stopgap between the current team and waiting to see if one of the key goalie prospects pans out, would not be the worst thing in the world. It would perfectly align with the front office’s thinking that they want to stay relatively competitive and not waste prime years of their young forwards.

Because if this is a finding-out period about some young defenders like Cam York and Drysdale, and young forwards like Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, and Joel Farabee — how much are you really finding out about them if the goalie behind them is constantly allowing four to six goals every night?

Now, how much would it cost the Flyers? And does it make sense to really do something like this in the middle of a lost season? If they were to acquire Gibson and surge back up the standings with some more wins to just miss the playoffs by fewer points and get a worse draft pick, does that even make sense to do? These are the questions we’re left wondering and will really only find out if it happens.