Ducks Goalie Dilemma: Andersen or Gibson?
By Ben Tuval
Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
The Anaheim Ducks’ goalie “dilemma” is looming as the start of the NHL season is just under fifty days away.
In Memoriam: Anaheim Ducks goalie tandem of the 2013-2014 season. May Jonas Hiller and Viktor Fasth forever be missed.
Over the course of just a few months, Ducks fans have seen a complete change in the team’s goalie tandem for the 2014-2015 season. In fact, it was such a rapid change, I thought as though I was in the “Be a GM Mode” in NHL 14, but then I woke up to reality.
As a personal fan of cliches (but not at all): out with the old, and in with the new.
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In comes Frederik Andersen, 24, who started Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Ducks. In fact, Andersen started off his NHL career 6-0-0. His 2.29 goals-against average and his .923 save percentage earned him a spot on the NHL All-Rookie team. Injuries, however, sidelined Andersen, and forced Bruce Boudreau to call in the 21 year-old from Pittsburgh, John Gibson, who became the youngest goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.
Gibson’s stellar play in the 2013 World Junior Championships for the United States earned him the MVP award for the tournament and a place in the spotlight from all hockey fans.
The Ducks are no strangers to having some of the best goalie tandems. On the team’s magical 2007 Stanley Cup run, the Ducks had relied on Ilya Brzygalov, the back up goaltender, for five games in the postseason, as Jean-Sebastien Giguere welcomed the birth of his newborn son.
With a rich history of outstanding goalie tandems, it most certainly boosts the Ducks’ chances of competing for a Stanley Cup, especially with a pair of goaltenders with the promise to surpass the records that the Giguere-Bryzgalov pair had set.
The Ducks’ best choice is to start the 21 year-old Gibson, whose .934 save percentage in the regular season and playoffs bests Andersen’s .899 save percentage in seven playoff games.
Who do you want to see in between the pipes for the Ducks next season?
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