The Ducks Should Be Grateful for Gibson

It’s all about #36 between the pipes – John Gibson.

Gibson has been stellar since coming into our lives, between his incredible run as the starting goalie in the 2013 World Juniors Championship (.955 Save Percentage, 1.36 GAA, 1 Gold Medal) and eventually beating out both Jonas Hiller and Frederick Andersen to be the Duck’s franchise netminder since 2016. He split the William M. Jennings Trophy with Andersen in 2016 and is a 2-Time NHL All-Star.

At only 26 years old, Gibson’s just getting started, but without a deeper dive, it’s impossible to see just how great Gibson has been – and how great his start to this season is.

In Gibson’s first season as a full-time starter (2016-2017), he was Top-5 in the NHL in both GAA (2.22) and Save Percentage (.924) while starting only 52 games. If you were only counting Western Conference goalies, he’d be first in both categories, though he technically shared the Western Conference lead in Save Percentage with then-Blackhawks netminder Scott Darling.

In 2017-2018, he followed up his stellar campaign with an even higher Save Percentage (.926) through his GAA was not as impressive as the year prior. He increased his win total to 31, good for 10th in the NHL, though behind former teammate Frederick Andersen. The narrative changed on Gibson last year, and while he posted career lows in all pertinent categories (2.84 GAA, .917 Save Percentage), Gibson was finally recognized as an elite goaltender and was selected to his second All-Star game, voted behind Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

So far in 2019-20, John Gibson has backed up the talk of his elite status. Gibson leads the NHL in Save Percentage (.961!) and is second in both GAA (1.26) and Wins (3, as of 2:40PM EST). The team is 4-1 (again, as of 2:40PM EST), mostly due to Gibson’s incredible goaltending. Check out this incredible save that took place during Anaheim’s 3-1 triumph over the Red Wings: