so we're back to be experts in body language huh? same logic people had when Zegras got into that scuff with Stetcher and people where expert lip readers and all thought Rico was over Zegras antic cause of his body language too. just seems like people wanting to justify disliking Gibson other than he's just not a good goalie.
I don't have a problem with Gibson the person, which a big difference between the people who criticize Zegras and attack his character at every chance they get and the people who want to move on from Gibson because they feel a change is needed.
Sure, my interpretation is subjective as no one can prove what's actually going on in Gibson's head. Me posting above that Gibson played his ass off in the lead up to last year's TDL as an effort to get traded is an inference based on the timing of his out of nowhere Vezina caliber play but I don't know for sure that he was actually trying to get traded and would've waived his NTC to get away from this team. But the attitude issues that seem apparent to me also correlate to how games typically go with him in net and it's not like his body language/demeanor is a new thing for him. He played like he was trying to carry the team on his back for the first couple of years of the rebuild and then the on ice personality stuff started shining through in tandem with a trend in his play.
That trend being that he would start games looking locked in, he'd let in a bad goal or two off of blown defensive coverage and then his actual play, as in how he was actually navigating the crease and reacting to incoming shots would decline. I don't feel like it's just a small subset of negatively biased fans who have noticed that for the past few years, Gibson was at least mentally checking out of games after facing a little adversity. Personally I think it reflects with how he acts on the ice, and my impression is that he doesn't feel like trying until the team in front of him starts being worthy enough for his complete effort.
If that's not the case, then he's just cooked and mentally broken down from playing for a rebuilding team as long as he has, again, whatever the case may be, he's been an issue and I don't think he's entitled to be allowed to sit and give a subpar effort (when we know he can play better) until the team starts playing well enough for him to be motivated to try again. Part of building a winning culture is having a team of players who give winning efforts. It's one thing to have off nights here and there, it's quite another to give subpar efforts most nights.
My impression doesn't come from wanting to justify not liking the guy. I want to like the guy. He was my favorite goalie in the league by a wide margin. My feelings on this issue come from wanting to see this team build the culture and talent to get the f*** out of this rebuild period and my takeaway is that Gibson needs to go for us to get everyone on board, and making 6 million dollars a year to play this sport, he doesn't deserve to coast until everyone else does.
