Anaheim Ducks Goalie John Gibson’s Interesting New Deal

The Anaheim Ducks announced Monday morning that they had come to terms on a new three-year deal with 22-year-old goaltender John Gibson.

The deal was announced to be three years at $6.9 million with a $2.3 million AAV. Gibson will play this upcoming season under the final year of his entry-level deal, so his extension does not kick in until the 2016-2017 season. Gibson’s cap hit for this upcoming season remains at $721,666.

Gibson was taken 39th overall by the Ducks at the 2011 draft, and he has 28 career starts, 4 of which came in the 2014 playoffs.

So what makes this deal interesting?

First, it is a bit surprising that Gibson is the first of the Ducks 2016 restricted free agents (Lindholm, Rakell, Vatanen, Andersen, Despres, Sekac and Wagner) to be given an extension. Ducks GM Bob Murray structured this deal to ensure that he has his young goalie locked up while still allowing room for the other deals to get done, financial flexibility.

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The extension brings the Ducks to $51.6 million committed to the cap for the ’16-’17 season. While the future is blurry in terms of what the ’16-’17 salary cap may be set at, the Ducks are currently looking at $21 to $23 million in cap space for next summer.

However, as we saw at this past draft, Bob Murray can shed a significant amount of cap space through trades so that $21 to $23 million is tentative.

This deal is also interesting as it is somewhat back-end heavy. The breakdown of Gibson’s deal is $1.5 million in ’16-’17, $2.1 million in ’17-’18 and $3.3 million in ’18-’19. This does not effect Gibson’s salary cap hit, however.

Gibson’s deal is a predictable one. He has shown enough to earn a bridge deal, but he has not done enough yet to earn the lengthy franchise player type of deal.

This deal is also extremely cap friendly, making it trade friendly for other GM’s around the league. While Murray did state that Gibson is not going anywhere, this deal leaves the opportunity window wide open.

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Another important thing to remember here is that Gibson is still on an entry-level two-way deal for this upcoming season. That means Bob Murray can send Gibson to the AHL affiliate San Diego Gulls without having to clear him through waivers first, and that appears to be where Gibson will start the upcoming season.

It appears to be a situation where Murray feels beginning the year in San Diego will benefit Gibson. It is also the last time Murray will have the luxury of sending him to the AHL without waivers as Gibson’s extension beginning in ’16-’17 is a one-way deal.

Murray stated in interviews that he knows how important goaltending is. He made it clear that he is building around his young goalies, an easy strategical choice with such incredible young talent in Gibson and Andersen.

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Anaheim Ducks Goalie John Gibson’s Interesting New Deal

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