Washington Capitals to sign goaltender prospect Mitchell Gibson
According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Washington Capitals are set to sign goaltending prospect Mitchell Gibson to a one-year entry-level contract.
Hearing Philadelphia native G Mitchell Gibson has signed with #caps, foregoing a year of eligibility at Harvard.
Gibson’s deal is a one-year ELC because of his age. He’s expected to sign an ATO to join AHL Hershey.
Gibson is 2018 4th Rd Pick who had career .918 SV% at Harvard.
Gibson recently finished his college career with Harvard University, recording an 18-7-2 record with three shutouts and a .919 save percentage this year. He was a consistent threat at Harvard, recording a career save percentage of .918 and an overall record of 47-25-6 in 79 games.
The 23-year-old had one more year of college eligibility.
Gibson was drafted 124th overall by the Capitals in 2018. Before going the college route, Gibson was the NAHL’s top goaltender and top rookie during the 2017-18 season, among other awards. He joined the Central Illinois Flying Aces and had a solid season, but it wasn’t until he went to Harvard that he really started to show some promise.
At the time when Gibson was drafted, Braden Holtby was the starting goalie and Ilya Samsonov was the team’s top goaltending prospect. But the team’s crease situation has evolved quite a bit in recent years, and now the Capitals must feel he’s going to be a piece of the team’s future moving forward.
Gibson will join the AHL’s Hershey Bears on an ATO to close out the season. The team is currently rolling with AHL veterans Zach Fucale and Hunter Shepard, so Gibson will have solid mentors to learn from as he gets his first pro reps in.
The Capitals have quite a few goaltenders signed for next season. Darcy Kuemper is signed until 2026-27, Charlie Lindgren will be around until 2025, and Clay Stevenson and Garin Bjorklund are both under contract, too. Fucale and Shepard are both pending UFAs, but one, or both, could be brought back for support in Hershey while working with Gibson and the other young options.