If expansion draft rules go through as expected,* a strange thing could happen: teams with more than one viable goalie could suffer.
What happens if you can only protect one of Ben Bishop or Andrei Vasilevskiy, Marc-Andre Fleury or Matt Murray and ... Frederik Andersen or John Gibson?
That’s already a tough nut to crack, and Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray faces a higher degree of difficulty because Andersen is slated to be an RFA this summer.
The OC Register trots out an interesting conundrum, something that Murray addresses. In a way, with the trade-friendly 2016 NHL Draft approaching, this franchise might just want to solve the Andersen vs. Gibson riddle a season early.
“If I can get Freddie signed one way or the other, I’ve got to move one because I’ll lose one for sure in expansion,” Murray said. “It just will happen. It’s just something that’s in front of us. It’s there. We have a lot of defensemen.
“So we have to turn some of these things into assets.”
Yikes.
Now, while the Ducks acknowledge that deadline like a nervous student or journalist, the actual countdown clock isn’t necessarily winding down.
Murray can re-sign Andersen, then take the 2016-17 season to see if one goalie clearly stands above the other. Gibson boasts the superior pedigree as a second-rounder while Andersen went in the seventh round, so you’d think Anaheim would lean toward Gibson ... yet their career stats are nearly identical.
(Andersen’s regular season experience also essentially doubles that of Gibson, who has only played in 66 NHL games.)
It’s the sort of scenario that can really give you headaches. Then again, at least Murray is being proactive.
If he trades Andersen, then we’ll know he’s being really proactive.
* - Most, if not all of the speculation will be ended this coming week.
(H/T to Rotoworld.)