3. He's not a surefire upgrade on Pickard
Some people are convinced Gibson is his old self and would be an upgrade at the backup goalie position for the Oilers. The 'Stache man would still be the starter for the Oilers, we'd just be changing out the backup.
But is he a surefire upgrade on Pickard? I'm not convinced of that. I'd say considering his previous workload, the likeliest scenario you can hope for with Gibson is that it's a draw in play between Pickard and Gibson, with a step down being the likeliest scenario. If the best you can hope for is a lateral move, then what's the point of making the trade? You might as well stick with the guy you have whose play is predictable and reliable. I can't say Gibson fits either of those descriptions.
You can't even say that statistically it's better. Gibson has the better sv% this season (.908 vs. .897) but Pickard has the better GAA (2.53 vs. 2.84).
Now I'll give props to Gibson for putting up a league average sv% on a horrible rebuilding team, but this is just further cooking his already depleted ability to play, as he'll face a lot more shots than Pickard does on the Oilers because Gibson's team is much worse defensively in front of him than Pickard's team is. But, if you're going to trade away a warm body off your roster, you better be bleeping sure that his replacement is going to be an upgrade on him, otherwise the trade is rendered pointless, and you've just diminished the talent level of your roster.
This ties in nicely with my next point......
4. Gibson hasn't played a single playoff game since the 2017-18 season
This means he's become rusty to the rigors of playoff hockey. On a contender like the Oilers, you want to be sure that your backup can step in and provide you with the quality starts your teams needs to advance when necessary. Calvin Pickard faced a huge test in the 2024 playoffs against the Canucks when Stuart Skinner was stumbling and the Oilers needed to sit him for a couple of games. In those games Pickard played solidly, and even though one of them was a loss, that wasn't Pickard's fault. So, Pickard passed his playoff test last season.
Gibson has a lot more playoff experience overall in his career (26 games vs. three), but I'm not convinced that Gibson, despite his increased playoff experience, would be the better option for the playoffs. Based upon the numbers, Pickard has the better career playoff numbers between the two, albeit with a small sample size. But based on the players they are today, I'd rather ask Pickard for an encore than do the much larger and riskier ask of asking Gibson to play like his former self of eight years ago. Pickard's playoff experience is much more recent and fresher, so I'd rather roll the dice on him than Gibson at this point myself. NHL hockey is very much a "what have you done for me lately?" type of business, and in terms of playoff games, Gibson has done literally nothing lately. I'm not blaming him for that fact, simply pointing out a reality of trading for him. It's not his fault his team hasn't made the playoffs for years, but it certainly doesn't help his case for a trade. Pickard has a higher ceiling of performance, IMO, so I'm sticking with the incumbent over Gibson.