Gibson being a better goalie three years ago was not just a better goalie then Campbell he was one of the best goalies in the league. Making his potential miles ahead of Campbells. A change of scenery can always do a player good he was on a bad team and faced the harder teams and probably had no motivation etc. I think coming here would be a good thing for him and if he actually wants to win coming here could light a fire under his ass. Let's also not forget Campbell hasn't really proved anything either... He has what? two years of being a decent goalie and before that was a backup all of his life hardly playing... the change of scenery did him good.
I didn't say Campbell was just as good as Gibson. I said even Gibson at his worse is still as good as Campbell so he just needs to play better than his worst and he will be better than Campbell. Campbell had better stats obviously... He played for a team that finished fourth in the league.
Spend assets? We're in winning a Stanley Cup mode not a rebuilding phase. If you can get a goalie of Gibson's caliber and the risk pays off and he regains form you have one of the best goalies in the league. We need a goalie that can be that and Binnington, Husso, Campbell, or anyone else available isn't going to give you that except maybe Varlamov and I don't see Islanders trading him.
Any other top goalie in the league isn't available and no team is going to trade a top 10 goalie in the league if they have it. So regardless if it's Campbell or anyone else you're pretty much getting the same goaltending across the board.
Making his potential ahead of Campbell's: Untrue. Campbell pre-draft was as hyped - and with reason - as any goalie in living memory. If you say Gibson's potential is ahead of Campbell's, but factually, statistically lesser than Campbell's performance, that doesn't reconcile in the least.
If you're gauging potential, you're testing against trends. One goalie has been trending downwards and the other the opposite way. You can discount that as not having proven anything but in a contest of the better goalie, Campbell for the last two seasons has been a better goalie than Gibson.
You mention a backup all of his life. Correct: Behind the most underrated goalie of his era in Kari Lehtonen and then an all-world two time Stanley Cup champion in Jonathan Quick.
It's your opinion that Gibson's worst is as good as Campbell's best, but the facts don't echo your preference. So if potential is being reached then by all means side with Gibson if that's your strong preference, but be sure not to forget Jack Campbell's pre-draft consideration and the goalies he's been parked behind before finally getting his chance in Toronto.
Spend assets? Darcy Kuemper is a game up on Vasilevskiy. He's been mentioned as a possible target to replace Campbell. But if you listen to the commentary across the board the common denominator as to why we're seeing Tampa and Colorado in the Finals comes down to team depth; bottom six and bottom pairing d-men lending superior support for their club against thinner squads.
If you have as you note ("So regardless...") an equivalency of goaltending talent to choose from then the importance of spending assets to get what's otherwise also free seems misguided WHEN...you also have needs elsewhere.
So we have two choices given our cap situation and asset cache with respect to goaltender acquisition:
(1) Shift our LIMITED assets to acquire an equivalent goalie and possibly compromise on depth acquisition in the event there isn't a better goalie on the market available for the same assets.
(2) Acquire the equivalent goalie on the free market at no asset cost and focus our LIMITED assets to build team depth.
To my mind, our team depth is the primary focus for using assets given that it is unlikely Oettinger or Sorokin is available for trade. On the free market if we can get Campbell or Husso at around $4M, that's our move. Then we focus on depth a la Lankinen, Lindgren and the like.
But saddling $6M John Gibson and our faith at the expense of other needs and our modest account seems like the actions of a GM with blinders on.
