5. He'd cost way too much in trade
You have to look past the surface on this one. Gibson himself wouldn't cost much, but the Oilers would have to trade extra draft picks or prospects as compensation to both the Ducks and the other team involved in exchange for them retaining all that extra cap space - and you better believe this'd be a three way trade to make the cap space even remotely work.
And again, after the dust settles, you've still got a guy who costs more at the same position than the incumbent. Is this really worth it? I say hell no.
6. We don't need him
This might be the most important point I make in the entire blog. Yes, Skinman and Picks were both struggling at the beginning of the season, but in their defence so was the rest of the roster. Look at the last 10 starts of the two.
John Gibson has had very up and down numbers. In six of those games, he's had a sv% above .900. As of late both Pickard and Skinner have rebounded their play - showed in the fact that Pickard has more consistency to his game. Calvin Pickard has also had six games of hockey with a sv% above .900, but in the games where he didn't his sv% never dipped below .864. Meanwhile, Gibson laid an egg against Philly on Jan. 11 with an .800 sv% letting in six goals - and it's worth noting that in the two games he has a 1.000 sv% he faced only 11 and 12 shots, an easy workload for any goalie. Again, that may be due to poor play in front of him, but it shows that Pickard has more consistency to his game now.
Even if you disagree with me and see those numbers as me splitting hairs, do you really believe that Gibson is still worth the extra $600,000 he would cost for basically a lateral move? Still terrible roster management. Pickard has a higher ceiling and he's cheaper. You can't tell me that for those reasons alone we should trade him away.
7. He'd stunt the development of Olivier Rodrigue
You remember Olivier Rodrigue, right? Drafted in the second round of 2018, Rodrigue has put up two "close to elite" seasons for the Condors after struggling in his first two seasons.
Rodrigue deserves a cup of coffee in the NHL, which hopefully will happen before the end of this season to let him see what he can do - perhaps once the Oilers have solidified their playoff spot with home ice advantage it will happen.
If the Oilers were to trade for Gibson, well not only is he more expensive but he's signed for another season than Pickard is. In these days of the modern NHL you must have one eye to the future, even on a contender where you're trying to win now, because you need young and cheap players to replace retiring and underperforming guys. While Pickard is not that guy now, he's 32 and who knows how much longer he's going to hang on to an NHL spot? On average players start to decline at 35, so it's smart of the Oilers to see what they have in Rodrigue to see how ready he is to take Pickard's place, especially since this is a contract year for Rodrigue. If he sees hope in grabbing a spot in the NHL, Rodrigue will see a lot more value in re-upping with the Oilers organization vs. trying his luck somewhere else.
In situations like this if the Oilers have to sit Gibson for any length of time, or waive him to the minors, it will cost them more against the cap, not to mention Gibson will likely be harder to get rid of when the time comes that Rodrigue has a regular place in the lineup. If the Oilers had to send Gibson to the minors they'd still have $700,000 counting against the cap. With Pickard they'd only have $100,000 counting against the cap.
In terms of a trade, with Pickard they'd be dealing from a position of strength. With Gibson they'd have to sell a team on taking him. If it's harder to get rid of Gibson - which it most certainly will - then the Oilers options are limited in terms of getting rid of 100% of his cap hit to bring Rodrigue into the fold.