If he is a guy who you put in his place (i.e. bottom pair...10-12 mins a game, a big chunk of that being on the PK) he's as good a defenseman as you're going to find for that role.
We were using him as a 3-4 and I don't think that's how you get the most out of him.
Hard to say our PK could get better, but if Gill were with Michalek...I'd stick my nose out there and say it would.
PK is the only thing he was good at, blocking shots/passes, and clearing people out of fleury's way. Other then that he was slow and would not fit well in our current system where D constantly pinch down low as forward replaces em up high. Only thing i miss about his game is a big strong body to clear the crease(that a word?) / get people out of fleury's way.
I think, in a couple years, your going to see a Bortuzzo/Strait pairing that will be a better shutdown pairing than the Gill/Scuderi pairing. They are being groomed for it down in WBS right now. We'll see how far along they are when this years playoffs start.
Great penalty killer, solid in his own end, and a great shot blocker, but an absolute nightmare whenever he had the puck on his stick. Played with about as much grit as someone a foot shorter and 100lbs lighter. He was also someone you hope would never venture too far up into the play either (because he was so god damn SLOW). He definitely brought some good qualities, but at the same time he was one guy that I didn't shed a tear over when he left. Really happy Ray opted not to give him the kind of money the Habs ended up paying him.
I loved having Gill in the lineup. Despite the jokes about him being a pylon (which is OK, when you're his size and play with a stick long enough to require an NHL exemption, you don't need to be fast to cover much territory), he was an integral part of the defense. As someone noted, he was second fiddle to Scuderi, but he was integral to our success. That really became apparent the year after he left.
You're much smarter than me, so excuse me for disagreeing, but Gill always looked like the best player on that pairing, to me. In fact, Gill was the only partner Scuderi ever looked effective with. I give a lot of credit to Gill for that. The Scuderi-Whitney pairing from the year before made my eyes hurt.
In the playoffs against the caps whenever Ovechkin was on the ice Gil and Scuderi would switch sides so Scuds was always matched up with Ovi. DB definitely had more faith in Scuds in that sense and I definitely think he's far more deserving of the $3M+ contract he received than Gil, he was great for sure though.
I think, in a couple years, your going to see a Bortuzzo/Strait pairing that will be a better shutdown pairing than the Gill/Scuderi pairing. They are being groomed for it down in WBS right now. We'll see how far along they are when this years playoffs start.
Would be great if they both panned out like you say. Our defense could potentially be...
Orpik - Letang
Martin - Michalek
Bortuzzo - Strait
In the playoffs against the caps whenever Ovechkin was on the ice Gil and Scuderi would switch sides so Scuds was always matched up with Ovi. DB definitely had more faith in Scuds in that sense and I definitely think he's far more deserving of the $3M+ contract he received than Gil, he was great for sure though.
They never had to switch sides, because Ovechkin's a LW and Scuderi played right defense with Gill on the left side.
Gill was very good for us. But he's been even better since joining the Habs. I've been really impressed with his game since he went to the Habs, and I've watched him live a ton since then. And he's a tried and true leader. He's Montreal's de facto captain, imo.
I'd expect Gill to cash in again on July 1. He's simply a very important piece if you wanna go deep in the playoffs.
To put things mildly: We don't win a Stanley Cup without Hal Gill. He and Scuderi shut everyone down (except for Ovechkin in a sense) the entire playoffs. He was also on the ice when the final buzzer went off in game 7 against Detroit. That shows how much faith the staff had in him.
I agree with all of that. And to expand on it- I think Gill/Scuderi were only on the ice for 1 even strength Ovechkin goal that whole series.
AO feasted when they could get the matchup against Orpik/Gonchar, because their gap control on him was horrible and he could use his classic screen shot. But Ovechkin was relatively held in check very admirably by Gill & Scuds.
Depends what kind of money he's looking at. If we had the space, he's sort of the #5 defenseman I am clamoring for.
Staal-Adams
Michalek-Gill
as a PK. Wowza
A guy like Gill would also really help Niskanen develop, IMO.
I agree 100%. With our top 4 we have no need for him and he would be inferior to all of them given our system. But he is the perfect bottom pairing solid vet guy. We would have the deepest d core in the league if we had a 5-6 pairing of Gill-Niskanen and then Engo or Lovejoy as a number 7. I just wouldn't want to spend anything over $2 mil on the guy and preferably under 1.5 which won't happen.
They never had to switch sides, because Ovechkin's a LW and Scuderi played right defense with Gill on the left side.
Gill was very good for us. But he's been even better since joining the Habs. I've been really impressed with his game since he went to the Habs, and I've watched him live a ton since then. And he's a tried and true leader. He's Montreal's de facto captain, imo.
I'd expect Gill to cash in again on July 1. He's simply a very important piece if you wanna go deep in the playoffs.
Right but just because he's a LW doesn't mean he can't skate over to the RW side to gain a more favorable matchup against the more immobile Gil, which is exactly what happened and why the whole switch was put into place. I'll do my best to find citation of it but hopefully someone else out there remembers and can back me up.
When the refs put the whistle away and Gill is allowed to just bearhug guys like the big wookie he is, suddenly he's two or three times more effective than he was in the regular season.
