Anyone care to predict the Ducks goalie situation next year? LOL

[The Black Panther]

Just when we thought John Gibson was "the guy" FreddieA has gone off on an incredible playoff run.
Ofcourse one soso game could change everything as per Gabby Boudreau.

Anyone dare?

[JagrBomb]

60/40 for andersen at minimum. andersen starts again in the playoffs, gibson asks for a trade in the summer. ducks deal him to an eastern team and extend andersen long term.

[Slug]

I think it will be very similar to this year. Andersen will get the majority of starts.

[NoWayOut]

Barring an epic meltdown that boots the Ducks out of the playoffs Andersen mans the crease next season. Even if that happened, and it doesn't appear likely, it would still be his crease first in a 1A/1B.

Gibson I think goes back to the AHL for more seasoning, maybe some time as the backup to Freddie mixed in. Anaheim is in a situation where they have no need to rush Gibson and can let him continue to mature. Maybe at same point down the road they move one or the other but I don't see that as a high priority for them at the moment.

That's my guess.

[The Black Panther]

60/40 for andersen at minimum. andersen starts again in the playoffs, gibson asks for a trade in the summer. ducks deal him to an eastern team and extend andersen long term.

Being an Andersen owner I like your prediction.

[mojavedesert]

Gibson traded to Winnipeg for Pavelec and Pavelec excels as a Duck back-up goalie and Gibson backs up Hutchinson.

[rainydrinkwater]

Anyone remember the situation in Los Angels a few years back where Quick was just supposed to be a place holder until the golden boy Bernier was ready? I'm not saying that this will play out now for the ducks as it did then for the kings but Andersen has proven to be a very capable goalie and he's getting the job done. Until that changes, he should be considered the #1, even if the leash may be shorter than it is for the unquestionable, undisputed #1 goalies league wide.

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

Andersen's problem I consistent. He had way too many shit games this year to really take hold of the job. He should open next season as the starter, but with Gibson showing he's ready Andersen won't have a huge leash.

[Axeman33]

I don't think anything changes next year; Andersen is still their starter. That being said, both Gibson and Andersen are RFA's at the end of next year. I see this as a similar situation that Montreal faced a couple years ago with Halak and Price. Halak was clearly the starter at that time but Price was pounding on the door. Well, we know how that worked out.

Expect Andersen to continue to be their starter next season. At some point, I don't think they are going to re-sign both so I can see a trade coming, and more than likely it will be Andersen on the move. I am not sure if he goes during the year at the deadline, or if he is moved next year at the draft, or whenever. I just expect that type of scenario to play out.

Gibson will be the long term answer there. I just don't think it happens next year. He will get his starts, but as mentioned earlier, it will be a split format with Andersen still getting the heavier workload.

[Bass56]

I think Gibson will be their guy, but not next year. Maybe a 70/30 format in favor of Andersen in 2015-16, but then it's the Gibson show.

Price was projected as THE GUY in Montreal, even when Theodore, Huet and Halak had the crease.The current situation in Anaheim is playing out a little bit like the Halak/Price saga a couple of years ago, where the golden boy (Price), was playing backup to the hot hand of Halak.

Many experts were saying that the Habs should move their young prized prospect and hold on to Halak (an equally young goalie, yet had more NHL experience and was backstopping the team through many obstacles at the time).

However, Habs management knew that Price's value was not at par should they want to move him and that Halak could fetch more... Ok... so that did not work out too well for them since the only positive return in that trade was a prospect named Lars Eller (turned out to be a good piece for the Habs but nothing extraordinary... yet). The Canadiens stuck by their gut decision of giving the reins to the young Price and the rest is history.

By no means am I comparing Price to Gibson or Halak to Andersen, but I can't help but notice the similar scenario playing out. Gibson has always been part of Anaheim's long term solution in nets, while Andersen was a great bonus. I feel that if they have to move either or, they may go for the guy that holds the most value at the moment (Andersen) and stick to their initial plan of grooming Gibson into a great starter while getting a nice return for their other asset.

Only time will tell, but that's my projection!


EDIT: hmmmm should have read Axeman's post right above before writting this... bah, great minds think alike

[Hockey6723]

Awesome insight. I could honestly see a trade earlier than we think, possibly this summer or next year. I would however like to see andersen get the bulk of the starts and gibson light the ahl on fire. Not sure how a timeshare benefits either goaltender or their trade value

[Doug Glatt]

I doubt either Ducks G will get more than 50 starts in a season until one of the two is moved. Boudreau doesnt even know.

And this has been his standing policy for years. He goes on whims, and in the regular season you just never know who is going to roll. I stopped owning his goalies, its too frustrating. If you dont have daily changes and an app on your phone you will lose starts frequently.

[pmorrow]

The difference next year will be that Gibson spends no time in the AHL and will push for Andersen for starts. It's obviously going to be Andersen's net on night one but Gibson will get his starts. I predict a 51-31 split in Andersen's favour. Gibson has the confidence of the coach so he will play most b2b, boosting his numbers. There are two other factors: if Anaheim continue to go deep there is the potential of a Cup (finals) hangover which could mean a more shared crease. The flip side is if Boudreau gets fired - will that new coach change their stance on how to use the two goalies? It's looking increasingly remote that Boudreau gets canned but you never know. TBH at no point has Gibson unequivocally been "the guy" in Anaheim. He's always been the man of the future, like a Mrazek or a Varlamov, despite brief periods of holding onto the crease. I'm also slowly starting to worry he's a band-aid boy.

[DrakeZero]

I think the situation will be much the same as it was at the start of the season being mostly a 1A/1B type deal. However both Gibson and Andersen's contracts are up at the end of next season so they'll have to make a decision before the deadline. Gibson will probably get a similar deal to what andersen has now, but Andersen will most likely want Bishop type money and with the ducks being close to the cap and wanting to resign Kesler something will have to give.

[Dobber]

60/40 for andersen at minimum. andersen starts again in the playoffs, gibson asks for a trade in the summer. ducks deal him to an eastern team and extend andersen long term.

100-0 for Andersen. I couldn't be more certain of this. Zero doubt. Gibson will be like Bernier with the Kings/Schneider with the Canucks.