John Gibson named Anaheim Ducks' Masterton Trophy nominee

ANAHEIM, Calif. – As the longest-tenured current member of the Anaheim Ducks who has had a bounceback season despite some injury setbacks, goaltender John Gibson was selected as Anaheim’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy by the local chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Each team will have a nominee selected, and from the 32 nominees, the PHWA will select three finalists to be honored and voted on as the Masterton winner at the NHL Awards this summer.

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player that best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.

Teemu Selanne is the only Duck to have won the award in 2006 after posting a 90-point season following major knee surgery.

“He's been here the longest in this room, and he's been kind of a role model for me since I was young to now one of my genuinely closest friends,” said Troy Terry, the second longest-tenured Duck. 

“Truly, the attitude that he brings–and to be honest, we probably relied on him more than we should have in the last couple of years and the way that he's handled all that has been eye-opening for me on how to be a professional and how to handle those things. He's someone that has taken me under his wing since I got here. Now that we've been together and we're such good friends, he's someone I still look up to.”

Gibson has preserved through a now seven-year playoff drought in Anaheim and a nagging history of injuries, and the 31-year-old has remained dedicated to his craft to post his best numbers in several seasons.

Gibson opened the year on the sidelines due to an emergency appendectomy at the end of the preseason, and he’s been removed due to injury in three of his just six starts since the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Gibson has been out with a lower-body injury since April 3 and is unlikely to return this season.

However, when healthy, Gibson showed a return to form, as he backstopped his first sub-3.00 goals against average in four seasons and first save percentage over .900 in three seasons. Gibson has the sixth-best goals saved above expected per 60 minutes among goalies with at least 20 appearances despite facing the fourth-most shots per 60 minutes.

Gibson has also handled the rise of Lukáš Dostál–the future and probably current No. 1 goaltender for Anaheim–with his trademark aplomb and sportsmanship.

“The guys genuinely like him. They gravitate to him,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “Good family man, he's obviously a great husband, a great father, and I always look at those human qualities, and those are very transferable. He's a calming guy. I think all those qualities have been very welcomed here in the locker room.”

Gibson now sits just two wins shy of Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s club record of 206 career victories, and as the only Ducks goaltender in franchise history to play 500 games, it would only seem deserved for Gibson to reach that mark.