Oilers linked to Ducks star goaltender John Gibson.

Could the Edmonton Oilers be open to making a major change in goal ahead of the National Hockey League's trade deadline? It certainly sounds like at the very least the option is on the table for the Oilers.

During his most recent podcast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman linked the Oilers to Anaheim Ducks star goaltender John Gibson, suggesting that there were rumors floating around the league about a potential trade.

"The Edmonton thing is really interesting.. someone told me there was some talk about the Oilers and Gibson," revealed Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

In fact it sounds like there would be interest on Gibson's side of that equation as well, with Friedman going so far as to suggest that one of Gibson's prefered destinations would be the Edmonton Oilers.

"One of the things I had heard during the season was that Gibson's preferences were Edmonton and Carolina," added Friedman.

While this may sound like a trade in the making, Friedman did indicate that he believes there is one major obstacle to this trade potentially becoming a reality, and that obstacle is none other than current Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.

"The one thing I've kind of heard is that Gibson wants a situation where he is gonna be the #1," said Friedman. "He wants to be the guy. So I don't know if a Gibson-Skinner duo is gonna work for him. I think Gibson wants the chance to go on a run and prove he can be the guy on a top team. So if it's the Gibson-Skinner combo, I'm not sure that's gonna appeal to him."

While Friedman isn't suggesting that this rules out the possibility of the Oilers acquiring Gibson, he does believe it is less likely to happen as a result of the Oilers already having Skinner on their roster.

"One of the things I had heard was that Gibson-Edmonton, I don't know if it is still as likely as I thought it might have been early in the season for that reason," said Friedman. "We'll see how it all goes."

Despite playing on a relatively bad Ducks team Gibson is having another excellent season with a 2.65 goals against average and a .915 save percentage over 23 appearances for the Ducks this season.

I suspect there is a significant contingent of fans in Edmonton who would welcome Gibson as an upgrade over Skinner, who can at times be a little inconsistent.