Anaheim Ducks Sign Brian Gibbons and Carter Rowney, Is GMBM Sending Mixed Messages?
Two more bargain basement free agents joined the Anaheim Ducks yesterday. Carter Rowney and Brian Gibbons were signed to add depth up front.
The Anaheim Ducks made two more free agent signings yesterday. Right wing Brian Gibbons, most recently a member of the New Jersey Devils, was signed to a one year, $1M contract while former Penguin Carter Rowney received a three year, $3.4M deal. They are good depth players, but not the type General Manager Bob Murray said he wanted on the roster.
Carter Rowney
29-year-old Carter Rowney is what he is, a fourth line gritty player. He played 71 games over parts of the last two seasons with Pittsburgh and put up 12 points (5g, 7a). The numbers don’t tell his whole story. It’s a pretty good story.
Rowney made his NHL debut at age 27, with the Pens, as a replacement for injured Evgeny Malkin. As the saying goes “it took him a long time to become an overnight success.” He was undrafted out of the University of North Dakota where he played for current Flyers coach Dave Hakstol. Going to play NCAA hockey after the Juniors isn’t the typical route kids from his part of the world (Northwest Alberta) take to begin with.
Rowney could have become an accountant after he graduated from UND, but a conversation with Hakstol changed his mind. Instead, Rowney went to the minor leagues. He paid his dues in the ECHL with Wheeling and the AHL with Abbotsford and Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
The Sporting news has him pegged just right in their scouting report of him:
“A versatile player, he owns good size for the NHL game and the ability to play both wing and center (especially at lower levels). Can produce solid numbers at lower levels and is somewhat gritty, too. Is not a natural scorer, so he is clearly not a viable top-six forward option in the National Hockey League. Overall, he lacks high-end skill. Therefore, he must always find a role to play at the highest level.”
Last season he averaged a little over seven faceoffs per game before he was injured. At this point, he looks to be Derek Grant‘s replacement as the fourth line pivot.
Brian Gibbons
Brian Gibbons is a veteran of 125 NHL games, spread out over three seasons. In that time, he’s scored 48 points (17g, 31a) and is +17. His teammates love the guy. He brings heart and determination on the ice with him every shift. I’ll give Murray that Gibbons is better than last year’s fourth line group of Logan Shaw, J.T. Brown, and Chris Kelly, etc.
Former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma had this to say about Gibbons in 2014:
“Do you view Brian Gibbons as a skilled, top, No. 1 right wing in the league? I don’t think so. But he does bring that speed. He brings that energy, and he brings it and helps his line that way.”
Sounds like a good fourth line player. Still, I have a few objections.
Objection 1
Let me say that I like Brian Gibbons. The guy turned a 2016 PTO into a year in AHL followed by 26 points in 59 games in 2017-18 for the Devils. That has to be respected. Also, one the reasons Bylsma was so complimentary of him was because Sydney Crosby liked playing with Gibbons in Pittsburgh in 2014.
Ordinarily, I’d love a player like Gibbons on the Anaheim Ducks. I don’t see how adding him to the roster makes sense. It’s not for one reason, it’s for a few.
The Braintree, Massachusetts native’s signing combined with the return of Patrick Eaves means the Ducks are heavy on the right side. They have five NHL right wings: Corey Perry, Ondrej Kase, Jakob Silfverberg, Eaves, and Gibbons. Someone might have to go.
Gibbons is good on the penalty kill, is he a replacement for Silfverberg, who is a free agent at the end of the season? Murray said at the draft that he was negotiating to extend Silfverberg’s contract with the Ducks. Does he now believe an extension is out of the question and the 27-year-old Swede is on the block?
Objection 2
At the end of last season, Murray publicly said the team needed to get faster, which many of us took as also getting younger. Gibbons is 30.
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The other reason for my objections is that with five right wings, the Ducks have no room for San Diego speedsters, Kevin Roy, and Kalle Kossila. I refer to Gibbon’s talent analysis from Hockey’s Future.
“Brian Gibbons is an immensely talented forward who at the professional level must overcome a huge obstacle: his small stature. Liberally listed at 5’8, Gibbons possesses good passing and hands to be an offensively dynamic player. He is also a willing combatant down low and is very good at cycling the puck. Like many players his size though, he has a lot of difficulties winning 50/50 battles in the corners, and is often too easily pushed off the puck.”
Does the assessment sound familiar? It should. Take out Gibbons name and replace it with Roy’s name or Kossila’s name. It could be the same scouting report. Then why spend the money on Gibbons?
Wrap Up
Next: Counting down the Anaheim Ducks top prospects 5 through 1
I’m not sure whether or not the Anaheim Ducks are a better hockey team after these moves. Murray did nothing more than revamp his fourth line. That isn’t consistent with his stated goal of getting faster throughout the lineup.