LaSalle lad has goals
In talking about new opportunity, it is no secret that veteran Ontario Hockey League defenseman Andrew Gibson wants to make the most of it as early as this fall.
Coming off a stretch that saw him sign an entry level contact with the Detroit Red Wings in the spring before being traded to Nashville in June, Gibson — who hails from the Windsor area suburb of LaSalle — wants to make the most of his first National Hockey League camp with the Predators.
“I want to go into Nashville’s camp and start the season with them,” Gibson said. “Whether it’s less than 10 games or it’s the full season, my goal is trying to make the National Hockey League.”
That said, he’s also fully prepared to make the most of another season in the OHL with the Soo Greyhounds if he ultimately gets sent down.
“If I get sent down and I come back to the Soo, I plan on working my butt off and doing whatever the team needs me to do and just playing my game, not trying to do too much,” Gibson said.
With a return to junior, Gibson will enter his third full season with the team, though he did suit up in six games during the ’21-22 season after the Soo took him in the fourth round of the 2021 OHL priority selections draft.
As for his NHL rights, Gibson said he got the call that he had been traded by the Red Wings shortly after training in Detroit early on in the summer.
“I had to jump back into my workout group that I was with and find where to skate back home,” Gibson said.
The 19-year-old called being a part of the Predators a good opportunity.
“There’s a lot more room for opportunity there,” Gibson said. “Detroit’s prospect pipeline is second-to-none. Nashville’s got a lot of open spots on the back end. I think I can slip in there within the next couple years.”
Recently, Gibson was part of Hockey Canada’s national junior team summer showcase, which was split between Windsor and Plymouth, Mich.
Getting a chance to be a part of the program with the hotel and rink being a short drive from his home was an unforgettable experience.
“It was really good for me in that sense,” Gibson relayed to Hockey News Windsor. “Playing hockey in the middle of the summer is pretty hard. It’s hard to jump right back into it and play 60 minute games out of nowhere, but I thought I did really well. It was a great experience.”
With a simple message from the Hockey Canada brass, Gibson felt his game did a lot of the talking for him at the camp.
“They wanted us to keep it simple and make the right plays and not try to do too much,” Gibson said of the Hockey Canada staffs expectations of the players. “I found myself doing that and thriving off of that. I played a really simple game and did everything I needed to do. I just played my game and didn’t try to do too much. I thought I played really well and showcased my game really well.”
With the camp in the rearview mirror, the veteran blueliner has settled in back in Sault Ste. Marie with the Greyhounds training camp next up beginning next week.