John Gibson is drawing rave reviews in his first season with the Detroit Red Wings.

The 32-year-old goaltender turned aside 30 of the 31 shots he faced Wednesday as the Red Wings earned a 2-1 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Gibson improving to 16-2-0 over his past 18 starts.

“I don’t want to hype him up too much but I think he’s a Vezina [Trophy candidate],” Red Wings defenceman Simon Edvinsson said of Gibson after the win. “He’s been unreal. Look at the stats, look at the saves he made today. What a goalie he is. I have all the confidence in him that he’s going to perform when we need him the most and he’s been doing that.

“Hopefully he doesn’t read this, I don’t want him to hold this against me, but wow, what a goalie.”

The Red Wings traded for Gibson on July 1 last year, sending Petr Mrazek and second- and fourth-round draft picks back to the Anaheim Ducks in the deal. Gibson was coming off posting an 11-11-2 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.77 goals-against average in 29 games with the Ducks, missing the playoffs for the seventh straight year.

Gibson’s tenure in Detroit got off to a rough start as he went 4-7-1 with a 3.59 GAA and .865 save percentage over his first two months as Red Wing. He’s been rock solid since, though, improving to 20-9-1 with a .904 save percentage and a 2.67 GAA.

He has not allowed more than three goals in any of his past nine starts, allowing the Red Wings to surge into a tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division (with three more games played).

“We’re fine no matter which [type of] game we play,” Gibson said postgame on Wednesday. “We know it’s going to be tighter as it keeps going, so we have to be more comfortable in those games and I thought we did a great job tonight.”

Gibson remains a betting long shot for the Vezina, currently owning the eighth-best odds at +5000, well back of favourite Ilya Sorokin at -115.

Seider for Norris?

Gibson isn’t the only the member of the Red Wings generating award buzz, as defenceman Moritz Seider has emerged as a Norris Trophy candidate.

The 24-year-old German has seven goals and 34 points in 51 games this season while averaging 25:19 of ice time. He posted an assist in Wednesday’s win, barreling over Maple Leafs rookie Easton Cowan to steal the puck and feed Dylan Larkin for the overtime winner.

“That’s diesel right there,” Larkin said of Seider. “He has a diesel engine. He chases us like that in practice all the time and I knew when he started chasing Cowan that he was going to get the puck because he does it. He plays like that starting in training camp every day really. Strong stick, strong skater. He almost put it in the corner, but I caught up to it and was able to finish it off.

“I would have liked to go back to him to reward him for all the hard work but I ran out of real estate.”

Seider currently has the fifth-best odds for the Norris at +4000, with Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar being the clear favourite at -650.