Goaltender and Pittsburgh native John Gibson is ready to be selected in the 2011 NHL Draft, perhaps in the first round. And he's got some interesting things to say about Pittsburgh amateur hockey after being cut from the Baldwin High School team a few years back:
"When I got cut from that team, I kind of just laughed," Gibson said. "I didn't really even know what to say. It was probably the biggest joke I've ever had. I've been cut off AAA teams, and that's fine. The competition's better. But high school hockey in Pittsburgh, I mean, it's nothing [special]."
I'm outraged ... no, actually, Gibson probably has a point. Not long after being cut from his high school team, Gibson was invited to try out for the National U-17 Hockey Team. And his star has risen since then. He's the top goalie in the draft.
He is probably unlikely to be drafted in the first round, however. The development of goaltenders is hard to predict, which one can see by looking at the pedigrees of NHL starting goalies. Sure, there's Marc-Andre Fleury, who was selected with the first pick in the 2003 NHL Draft. But there are also many goalies, like Tim Thomas, Pekka Rinne, and Henrik Lundqvist who were drafted in the late rounds. The idea is that there's more certainty in drafting other player types. So Gibson could stay on the board until the second round.