Anaheim Ducks Fan Mailbag: 10/27/2014 – 11/02/2014

October 17, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen (31) defends the goal against the Minnesota Wild during the first period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

2. With how well both Frederik Andersen and John Gibson have played to start the year, what do the Ducks do in this situation? They’ve outgrown the AHL, and it probably won’t end well if the team keeps both players in a platoon.

– Chris

Jason: This one’s a tough question, but I believe the Ducks should ride this situation out for a bit longer. Obviously, it’s complicated now with Gibson’s groin injury, but there is absolutely no reason to rush in and sell on one of the goalies already. The parallel has already been thrown out there, but I believe this situation could turn out to be very similar to the Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price situation in Montreal.

The main thing is that both Andersen and Gibson are under team control for a good amount of time. Both players are set to enter restricted free agency after the 2015-2016 season, so the team has control of both goaltenders for a while. Yes, trading one of the goaltenders could possibly improve the team into the next tier, with the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks, but part of maintaining a strong organization is being able to keep the future in mind while playing for the present. I believe that when building a team, the vision should be about 20 percent present, 80 percent future. When contending, that vision should change to about 60 percent present and 40 percent future, but mortgaging the health of the team’s future should never be an option in order to try and win. Championships are hard to win: they’re the ultimate standard in sports, and teams that do everything right don’t always win. If that were the case, the same team would every year.

Also, Andersen and Gibson only have a combined 43 regular season games between the two of them. Andersen only has 36 games and 32 starts under his belt, while Gibson has a mere seven career NHL starts. Goalies can take a while to evaluate, and there just has not been enough of either goaltender yet to truly know what the Ducks should expect to have.

The Canadiens had both Halak and Price playing regularly from the 2008-2009 season and took two seasons to evaluate both players before ultimately trading Halak to the St. Louis Blues in 2010. This came after Halak’s tremendous 2010 playoff campaign, where the Canadiens upset the President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals in seven games in the first round, with Halak stopping 131 of 134 shots in coming back from a 3-1 deficit. That team also beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite that tremendous stretch, then-Canadiens general manage Pierre Gauthier pulled the trigger and traded Halak.

While it is possible that Bob Murray could do the same, there is no real reason to trade off either Andersen or Gibson at this point. Let them both play and see how their NHL careers go. Both have had outstanding stretches, but no decision has to be made until the team has a thorough understanding of how both players are at the NHL level.