Reflecting on John Gibson’s time in Anaheim

The Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings have recently made a deal to send goalie John Gibson to Detroit for a 2026 fourth round pick, a 2027 second round pick and goalie Petr Mrázek. 

Gibson has spent all 12 years of his career in Anaheim, being a stable presence in net as the team saw moderate success and a lot of coaching changes. Drafted by the Ducks in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft, Gibson had started nearly 500 games for the orange and gold prior to the deal. 

Gibson became a name to look out for during the 2013 World Junior Champions tournament. Gibson was in net for the United States, a team that also included NHL stars Jacob Trouba, J.T. Miller and the late Johnny Gaudreau. Team U.S.A won the Gold Medal game against Sweden 3-1, with Gibson being the second American ever to be named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. 

Following the tournament, Gibson played in, started and won three games, only allowing four goals. 

In his sophomore season, Gibson won 13 games, and was a backup for the Ducks deep playoff run. The 2014-2015 Ducks finished the season 51-24-7, led by former players Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and starting goalie Frederik Anderson. The team swept the Jets in the first round of the playoffs, gentlemen swept the Flames in the second round before losing in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks.  

In his third season, still considered a rookie, Gibson won 21 games to 13 losses, allowing 2.07 average goals against. Gibson won a slew of awards, including placing No. 7 in both Calder and Vezina voting, being named an All-Star and All-Rookie member and taking home the Jennings award, with the Ducks winning 46 games. 

In the 2019-2020 season, Gibson started to rack up losses thanks to the Ducks lack of success under new head coach Dallas Eakins. Gibson led the league in losses for three different seasons spanning from 2019-2023, including the 2022-2023 season where he had 31. This lack of success wasn’t directly due to Gibson’s bad play, but instead the Ducks overhauling their roster to rebuild with younger talent. 

Gibson in a game against the Minnesota Wild (Photo by Gary A. Vasquez)

In the deal, the Ducks received veteran goalie Petr Mrázek, who played in five games for Detroit last season. Mrázek was drafted by the Red Wings in the 2010 NHL Draft, and has been in the league since the 2012-2013 season. The 33-year-old has bounced around the league since being drafted, having spent time in Detroit, Philadelphia, Carolina, Toronto and Chicago.  Despite being in the league one year earlier than Gibson, Mrázek has started 97 less games than the former, with his best years being his first stint in Detroit, including in the 2015-2016 season where he recorded 27 wins and a .921 save percentage. Mrázek will have the chance to backup Lukas Dostal, and be a mentor to the still young goalie. 

Though his time in Anaheim has come to an unfortunate end, Gibson will be remembered as one of the team's best players from the last decade. He sits only two games behind Jean-Sébastien Giguère for most wins in franchise history, helping to show how valuable he was to the team during his 12 years in Southern California. 

References

Hockey-Reference.com

X.com

USA Hockey. 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship | Ufa, Russia. https://teamusa.usahockey.com/worldjuniors2013