Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson has been a topic of trade speculation for a couple of years now and this offseason has proven to be no different.

Things really started to reach a boiling point over the weekend when hockey insider Frank Seravalli said on a podcast that Gibson had requested a trade and did not intend to play for the team ever again. Gibson's agent responded with a scathing statement saying no such thing ever happened and that his client is still proud to be a Duck.

Even if Gibson didn't request a trade, there is still a logical argument to be made that the Ducks should at least explore it.

There was a time in Gibson's career when he was a top-tier goalie and one of the best players in the league at his position.

That time, unfortunately for him and the Ducks, seems to have passed. When combined with his contract (four years remaining with a $6.4 million per year salary-cap hit) and the ongoing state of the Ducks' rebuild, it makes him a logical trade candidate

Over the past four years, Gibson's play and production have placed him near the bottom of the league's goaltending leaderboards.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, his .902 all-situations save percentage ranks 33rd out of 42 goalies that have played at least 100 games during that time. His .909 even-strength save percentage places him 36th out of that group.

There are two ways to look at it.

One is that Gibson has simply regressed and is not the goalie he once was.

The other is that playing behind one of the worst teams in the league over the past couple of years has severely impacted his production and that playing behind a better team could help him get back on track.