Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Hold Outs, Opt Ins, and Potential Trades episode, on the Edmonton Oilers interest in John Gibson and Ryan Donato. Does Gibson make sense of the Oilers, and does Gibson really want to go there?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bukauskas: “All right, John Gibson in Anaheim, who, I mean, it’s been years where he’s been in and out of the rumor mill, with regards to trades. Some news about him.
Friedman: “Yeah, so I’ve been kind of looking into Gibson a little bit off and on. We’ve talked about him on the podcast. And also, you try to have an idea of what you know some of the Canadian teams are looking at.
Since we’re at Hockey night in Canada, we talked about Ryan Donato on Saturday night. I think the Oilers have been one of the teams looking at Donato, who’s a very manageable salary this year, $2 million AAV. Up at the end of the season. Scored his 19th goal the other night. I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in Donato. And, you know, the Blackhawks will just have to figure out what they want to do here.
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But you know, when I mentioned Edmonton and Donato on Saturday night, you know, someone said to me, you know, have you done any research on Gibson and Edmonton? And, you know, one of the things I’d heard during the season was that Gibson’s preferences were Edmonton and Carolina. I mean, Carolina has, as we’ve talked about, that dance with Gibson has been on and off. They’re like two kids at the prom eyeing each other from the opposite side of the room, and they don’t ever get together to dance three times in a row. They just haven’t been able to make the deal.
You know, the Edmonton thing is, is really interesting, because I don’t know where it came from last week, I didn’t see it, but someone told me there was some talk about the Oilers and and Gibson. And the one thing I kind of heard is that, you know, Gibson wants a situation where he’s going to be like the the number one, and it’s, it’s sort of going to be his job. He wants to be the guy. And, you know, so I don’t know if a Gibson-Skinner duo is going to work for him.
And so that’s one of the things that because right now, it’s sort of Gibson-Dostal and they’re a combo. And that Dostal kid, I mean he is a hell of a goalie. He, that kid is going to be a stud, and Anaheim’s got a great one there.
I think Gibson wants the chance to go on a run and prove he can be the guy on a top team. So if it’s the Gibson Skinner combo, I’m not sure that that’s going to appeal to him.
Bukauskas: “But I guess the tricky part is Elliotte like, if you’re going if you want to go to a team that has a chance to win now, well, usually teams that have a chance to win now are because in some shape or form, they’ve got good goaltending. So and totally not taking anything away from John’s resume, because, I mean, he’s proven he can be a very good goaltender too. But, I mean, I don’t know if, as I get to the point where he says, All right, I’ll roll the dice and bank …
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Friedman: “That’s what I would do.”
Bukauskas: “… a chance to get an opportunity and not give the ball back when I do.”
Friedman: “That, that’s what I would do. I like to bet on myself. Doesn’t always work I would say Kyle, but I do like to bet on myself.”
Bukauskas: “It did on Sunday.”
Friedman: “Yes, yes, it did.
But you know, it’s my job, what I try to do on the pod here is not only give my own opinion but try to explain what I think is happening or what people are thinking. And you know, I’ll just say that one of the things I heard was that, you know, Gibson, Edmonton, I don’t know if it is still as likely as I thought it might have been early in the season for that reason. We’ll see how it all goes. But I heard that could potentially be a factor like this.
I always warn people, and it’s really true. Just because something is true today, especially in the trade market, doesn’t mean it’s going to be true tomorrow.
You know, I always remember two years ago, Tyler Bertuzzi was not available, and then he was because Detroit fell out of the playoff race with those two losses to Ottawa, and he ended up in Boston.
So, you know, that’s, that’s kind of the way it goes. And you always have to be on top of the wave, and the wave ebbs and it flows. And the ebb I had heard was early in the season, I had heard that, that Gibson was a possibility for Edmonton. You know, then I heard maybe less so if it wasn’t as the clear-cut number one.
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Bukauskas: “It would be a total game-changer, if any, any contender made the deal for him between now and the, the deadline. It would really be something. I think there’s, there’s a lot of motivation there. If he gets his fresh start here, someday.”
Friedman: “I would just take the plunge. If I was him, I would take the plunge. Just go there and just go there and win the job. That’s what I would do.
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