The Free Press’s Helene St. James has posted her morning column today, and she discusses the concept that goaltender John Gibson might stop the Red Wings’ rotating goalie carousel on a pair of netminders in Gibson and Cam Talbot, at least for the upcoming season.
St. James notes that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan is quite familiar with Gibson from his days in San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles, battling Gibson’s Anaheim Ducks…
“I’ve been lucky enough, or unfortunate enough – I don’t know which side of the coin that I stand on – because he’s played really well against our teams in the past,” McLellan said after day two of training camp at Centre Ice Arena. “We’re counting on him getting back to that. I think Gibby can give us a sense of confidence and a feeling that if we make a mistake, he will be there for us.”
The Wings acquired Gibson in late June from the Anaheim Ducks for Petr Mrázek, a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick. Gibson, 32, has two years left on a deal carrying a $6.4 million cap hit. He has spent his entire career in Anaheim, where McLellan coached against him while with the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
“He seems to be rejuvenated and excited, which is real positive for him and for us,” McLellan said. “But we need all of our goaltending in the organization to step up and give us a little more, and we have to work better around them.”
Gibson apparently drove all the way from Pittsburgh to Detroit to take part in “Captain’s skates” over the past month, affording his family the opportunity to settle in Detroit at their leisure…
Gibson and his family spend their off-season in his native Pittsburgh, and being able to drive back and forth to Detroit helped ease settling into a new place. He was part of player skates for about two weeks leading up to camp, and now these three days of scrimmages are a further avenue to adjust to a new team.
“For me it’s getting to know everybody, getting to know their tendencies, getting on the same page with the D,” Gibson said. “It’s just kind of putting the details together to start the season of strong.”
Strong, stable, and with a shared aim: For the Wings, to end a nine-year absence from the playoffs; for Gibson, to end a seven-year absence.
“I want to hopefully help the team win as many games as possible,” Gibson said. “Everybody’s goal is to make it to the playoffs. It’s a long season, you’re going to have ups and downs, but everyone is going into the season with the same goal and it’s an exciting time to be here.”
Continued (paywall); the Red Wings have employed over half a dozen goaltenders over the past half-dozen years, so it would be nice to find some stability in the crease.
As St. James states later in her article, the Wings’ goal apparently involves buying Sebastian Cossa one more season in Grand Rapids before graduating to the big club as well (as Talbot is both in the last year of his contract and is 38 years old), so we’re going to see some turnover over the course of the next couple of seasons…
But the Wings and Gibson himself believe that he will finally be the answer to the question as to which goaltender starts for Detroit most nights.
