SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A night after surrendering five goals and getting pulled in yet another awful Anaheim loss, John Gibson could at least smile a little bit.
"As far as our team, it's a good time to have a break," the Ducks' goaltender and Whitehall native was saying during Media Day for the NHL All-Star Weekend.
If recent All-Star Game trends continue, he'll be fortunate to not give up five goals in a period Saturday at SAP Center, where the three-on-three tournament will come with precious little emphasis on defense.
As honored as he is to be a two-time All-Star, he knows that most of the public is watching him to get scored upon. Even as a goalie, he says he sometimes gets caught up watching the all-world talent in front of him.
"Just try to make the save," he says. "It's never easy with the guys here, but just have fun and see what happens."
Of course, Gibson is accustomed to getting peppered with shots. He leads the NHL in both saves (1,251) and shots faced (1,361). Despite that, Gibson has a 2.74 goals-against average and a solid .919 save percentage this season for the Ducks, who have lost 14 of their last 16 games and could soon be in store for a more serious shakeup.
The Ducks have already made two trades in the last seven weeks just involving the Penguins, Gibson's hometown team. Anaheim GM Bob Murray dealt Marcus Pettersson to Pittsburgh in exchange for Daniel Sprong and then, last week, he sent minor-leaguer Joe Blandisi to the Penguins for Derek Grant.
"If you looks at what we've done in the past, it hasn't been working," Gibson said. "In this league, when something doesn't work, there's changes to be made. I don't know what's going to happen but moves have already been made and if it doesn't change or we don't start turning it around, I'm sure more moves will be made."
• NBC's broadcast of Friday night's skills competition and the digital-only broadcast of Saturday's tournament will also feature some of the player-tracking equipment that the NHL hopes to have implemented for the start of next season. The puck and players will be fitted with microchips that will detect everything from movement to give fans an idea of how fast players are skating to the velocity of shots.
Though he's not opposed to player-tracking, Blake Wheeler sounded a little skeptical of what could be gleaned from it.
"The fastest guy that shoots the puck the hardest isn't always the best player," the Jets' right winger said. "There will be some tidbits that they'll take out of it. They'll test it out and see the usefulness of it. But my analogy is -- which I thought was a really good one -- if a pitcher throws 105 mph and doesn't throw strikes, he's not going to be a big-league pitcher."
• Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang were not the only players who were not made available for Media Day. Marc-Andre Fleury, Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist also did not appear. Crosby and Letang are expected to speak later today.
• Though Crosby didn't appear, Buffalo captain Jack Eichel said he is most looking forward to renewing acquaintances with the Penguins' captain.
"Being around him last year at the All-star Game was really cool, someone I looked up to a lot growing up," Eichel was saying. "He'll arguably go down as one of the greatest players of all-time, I think. With him being here, it's just really cool."
____________________
Want our latest content at your fingertips? Download the FREE app today:
