Every few months, a certain rumor would take the NHL by storm. Insiders would reveal bits and pieces of information about the potential future union. Multiple tweets would indicate how things are almost done. The fans would indulge in a fierce discussion over how it’s a good/bad decision. But, just as quickly as the rumor would start, it would die down, too—that is until a few months later when the cycle started over again. But, behold. Because this time that cycle has taken a bit of a backseat in favor of some revelations instead.

In November last year, The Athletic‘s Pierre Lebrun had talked about an ambitious move: The Anaheim Ducks’ goaltender John Gibson possibly finding the place within the Edmonton Oilers by the March 7 trade deadline. “An outlier team in the mix is Edmonton. Gibson has a modified no-trade clause, but my understanding is he would consider the Oilers, who came one win short of the Cup last season,” Lebrun had written. Notably, Lukas Dostal’s increasing presence within the rink (he started 13 of 18 games, as opposed to Gibson’s 3) also meant question marks about the veteran’s future within the team. But he stayed.

Then, in February this year, the rumor mill started again—this time courtesy of Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. “One of the things I’d heard during the season was that Gibson’s preferences were Edmonton and Carolina,” Friedman had said during the 32 Thoughts podcast, before mentioning, “One thing I kind of heard…[Gibson] wants to be the guy [at Edmonton].” But why the sudden goaltender acquisition rumor?

Well, we’ll talk about that a bit later, as Gibson’s Oilers roadblock may have been revealed finally. According to a tweet by NHL Rumor Report on June 18, “Elliotte Friedman: There’s debate about how much Edmonton looked at Ducks’ John Gibson at the deadline; Gibson wasn’t crazy about idea of sharing a crease with Stuart Skinner – SN 590.” Notably, Freidman has also made a similar remark during his podcast earlier this year: “And, you know, so I don’t know if a Gibson-[Stuart] Skinner duo is going to work for him.” 

As for the acquisition conundrum, the issue as per many has been Skinner’s supposedly unpredictable form. On one hand, you have a Stuart who posted a save percentage of .966 or more in three of his team’s five clashes vs Dallas in the Western Conference final, and topped it off with three shutouts during this year’s playoffs. Another version of the same player has been the one giving up the first goal just 56 seconds into the first period in Game 3 of this year’s Stanley Cup final. During that same game, Skinner also allowed five Florida Panthers goals on just 23 shots, ending the game with a .783 save percentage. During the final game, his save percentage was .860.

Having said that, there are still two years remaining on his contract with a $6.4M cap hit. This could also be the primary reason why the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native hasn’t been able to materialize a switch. A part of the Ducks for over a decade, the last season saw the 31-year-old make 15.3 saves, a number which isn’t just merely above expectations, especially compared to his young heir Lukáš Dostál, who finished the season with a record of 23-23-7. Now if the club’s General manager Pat Verbeek sees veteran stars like Gibson as a support system for younger talent, they won’t seem open to letting go of the American.

It would be interesting to see whether the Edmonton Oilers would still consider John Gibson, especially after his alleged conflict of interest with their current starter Skinner. But one might say that the recent Stanley Cup runner-ups’ bubble finally seems to have burst after all!

Will Edmonton Oilers be forced to decide over Stuart Skinner after all?

Last month, General Manager Stan Bowman made it clear enough that he fully supports the club’s goaltending duo of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. Even though fans echoed that the club should take over the goalie situation, Bowman was blunt enough to admit they won’t consider a potential trade for a goalie.

“At the end of the day, the players decide this, right? It’s the guys that are on the ice, and they have confidence in the guys we have, both in Pickard and Skinner,” Bowman said. “I think when you have a belief from your team that they’re going to get the job done for you, then you don’t have to focus on that exclusively.”

Bowman even insisted that not every team needs a top-10 goalie to win games, insisting the Oilers also don’t follow one-style gameplay. While it seems clear that the GM isn’t keen to discuss the goalie situation further, he might be forced to do so. Though Stuart Skinner did good against the Dallas Stars, with even Mikko Rantanen calling him a “difference-maker” and “MVP of the game”, the veteran was still lacking in Game 4 again after conceding three goals within the first period, let alone disappointing in the finals again. Yet, this logic still doesn’t give even Pickard any advantage.

Apparently, both goalies have failed to garner a save percentage above .900, even after getting their deserved chances to start in the playoffs. Hearing this, Bowman might be forced to eat his own words about the team not needing to acquire a new goalie at the trade deadline.

Nevertheless, even if it clearly indicates that the Oilers should strengthen this position, they’re restricted by limited cap space, a thin free-agent goalie market, and a shortage of tradeable assets. So it would be interesting to see what the future holds for them.