There is a sense of disappointment looming over the Detroit Red Wings this offseason due because the organization was not able to make a big splash in free agency or a blockbuster trade. However, even the most pessimistic fans will tell you that the Red Wings made a significant move to improve their goaltending via a trade with the Anaheim Ducks.
Our Red Wings season preview continues today with a look at the Red Wings’ goaltending situation heading into the 2025-26 season. Barring a seismic move in the next couple of weeks, Detroit appears to pinning their season’s hopes on improvement from the organization’s young talent as well as their new addition in goal: John Gibson, a veteran of over 500 games in the NHL, all with the Ducks.
Gibson & Talbot Should Be a Reliable Tandem in Detroit
After a couple of seasons where it was known that Gibson wanted a fresh start, the organization that drafted him finally obliged, dealing him to the Red Wings in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrázek, a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and a second-round pick in the 2027 draft. At 32 years of age, Gibson arrives in Detroit with the hopes of reestablishing himself as a true number one goaltender in the NHL after a bit of a fall from grace in Anaheim.
From 2015 to 2018, Gibson was considered one of the top young goaltenders in the game. He led the Ducks to 22 playoff games during that stretch, including a visit to the Western Conference Final in 2017. As the bottom began to fall out from under the Ducks in the late 2010s and early 2020s, his play suffered in the process. Prior to last season, he hadn’t posted a save-percentage (SV%) above .905 since 2019.
Last season was a bit of a comeback tour for Gibson. While 25-year-old Lukáš Dostál earned a majority of the starts for the Ducks last season, Gibson technically performed better, albeit in a backup role. Gibson finished the season with 11 wins in 29 games, a .911 SV% and a 2.77 goals-against average (GAA) while playing for the team with the eighth-worst record in the league. He also posted the highest quality-start percentage of his career (.679), meaning he was average or better in over two-thirds of his starts.
Related: Is John Gibson the Solution to the Red Wings’ Goaltending Problems?
Gibson has kind of been a “boom or bust” goaltender his entire career. In his 204 wins, he has a .945 SV% and a 1.73 GAA. In his 217 losses, however, he has a 4.05 GAA and a .876 SV%. To some extent it shouldn’t be surprising that he is better in wins than he is in losses, but this is pretty night-and-day; when he’s on his game, he is nearly unbeatable, but things get ugly pretty quickly when he’s off his game. If that trend follows him to Detroit – and it almost certainly will – the Red Wings will need his partner to be a reliable alternate option.
Luckily Gibson’s partner this season appears to be Cam Talbot, the Red Wings’ “1A” from last season. The 38-year-old is also a veteran of over 500 NHL games and, like Gibson, his play is a bit up and down. In his 21 wins last season, Talbot had a 1.97 GAA and a .934 SV%; in his 19 losses, his SV% dipped down to .863 while his GAA rose to 3.85.
Looking a little deeper, Talbot had 14 of his 21 wins through the end of January. His .906 SV% during that timeframe was noticeably better than the .892 SV% he had from February until the end of the season. All things considered, he proved that he can still give his team a chance to win more often than not, but he’s probably not the type of goalie you want to rely on when you’re chasing the playoffs late in the season, at least not at this stage of his career.
With Gibson and Talbot, the Red Wings probably have their most capable goalie tandem in a decade. Both goalies have a wealth of experience under their belts, and both are capable of shouldering the load for an extended period of time if needed. If Gibson can rediscover his form from six or seven years ago, the boost it will give the Red Wings is significant. Even if he can just repeat his efforts from last season, that’ll be an improvement over Detroit’s goaltending last season, and that should help them bridge the gap to the playoffs.
One thing head coach Todd McLellan and the Red Wings will have to mindful of with both Gibson and Talbot is that they are both familiar with missing games due to injury. Talbot was week-to-week at times last season, and Gibson was limited to just 29 games last season due in large part to the several injuries he endured. If injuries continue to be a concern for Gibson and/or Talbot, the Red Wings will need to be able to rely on their depth down in the American Hockey League (AHL).
That brings us to perhaps the most intriguing part of the Red Wings’ goaltending picture this season….
Cossa Sits Third on the Depth Chart
Defenseman Simon Edvinsson will always be known as the Red Wings’ top pick in the 2021 draft, but the selection most often discussed is their second pick in the first round, goalie Sebastian Cossa, who they traded up from the 23rd pick to the 15th to select.
The 22-year-old goaltender (who turns 23 in November) is set to embark on his third season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. This is the first season, however, where Cossa is positioned to receive NHL playing time in the event of an injury in Detroit. Prior to this season, the Red Wings would opt to recall his veteran partner (Michael Hutchinson in 2023-24, Ville Husso in 2024-25) while leaving him to take every start in Grand Rapids. This season, Cossa is the veteran as his assumed partner, Michal Postava, will be making his North American debut this season.
Cossa got his first taste of NHL action last season, entering a game against the Buffalo Sabres in the second period in relief of Husso. He stopped 12 of 14 shots during the final two periods plus overtime, and then stopped two of three shots in the shootout to secure his first NHL victory.
From the moment the Red Wings called his name back in 2021, Cossa was anointed as the goalie of the future in Detroit. Through 84 regular season games with the Griffins, he has 44 wins, a 2.52 GAA and a .909 SV%. He helped bring the Griffins within a win of the conference finals in 2024, but he was chased from the crease in the first game of the 2025 playoffs and then ceded the second start of the series to veteran Jack Campbell. Cossa was back in the crease for the third game of the series, but he wasn’t able to stop the Griffins from being swept out of the first round.
Given the investment the Red Wings put into Cossa, this season stands out as a particularly significant. He has undoubtedly had his ups and downs in the AHL, but he has at least established himself as a capable starter at that level. The potential and tools that the Red Wings saw back in 2021 are all still there, but this is the season where he needs to force the Red Wings to include him in their plans for the 2026-27 season.
Oh, and depending on when the Michigan State Spartans conclude their season, the Red Wings’ OTHER top goalie prospect could become a factor. His name is Trey Augustine, and there may not be anyone in the Red Wings’ organization that can push Cossa more than him.
Red Wings 2025-26 Goaltending: New & Improved!
While there is plenty of intrigue surrounding Cossa and the role he may or may not play in Detroit this season, the Red Wings’ goaltending this season ultimately comes down to how much of an improvement Gibson can provide as well as whether Talbot can maintain or improve from his level last season.
Gibson’s trade request stemmed from his desire to play for a more competitive team. He has not played in the playoffs since 2018, and his status among the top goaltenders in the league has waivered since then. The Red Wings have the second-longest playoff drought in the league right now, but are looking to break through in what will be their centennial season. Talbot will be important this season, but it feels like Gibson is the key to Detroit’s postseason hopes this season.
If neither of them can get the job done, Cossa will have the best opportunity of his career to show why the Red Wings aggressively moved up the draft board so that they could add him to their pipeline. All that matters at the end of the day is that the Red Wings make the playoffs, but fans should hope to see him steal a job in Detroit by season’s end, whether it’s as the backup or the starter.
All things considered, the Red Wings have one of the more intriguing goaltending situations in the league. There’s a savvy veteran, a prospect looking to establish himself as an NHL goaltender and a veteran looking to reestablish himself as an upper-tier starter in the NHL. We have just a little over a month until we find out if all that intrigue will translate to results for an organization that desperately needs them.
