Top-10 in blocked shots every year = "only above average" now?
Top minutes on one of the best PKs in the league = slightly above average?
You're massively underrating Gorges. He wouldn't be in the stands on any team in the league and for the vast majority, if not all, he would be in their top-4.
I think what I was saying must have been lost in translation. I mean of course he's above average in shot blocking. I was meaning that it was the only category in which he is above average.
As for his work on the PK, it is highly subjective, but I think he's only slightly average in that department. You're talking as if he was the only player on the ice. Every team have PK specialists, it is not that hard to find nor to developp. Gorges was on the PK when the team had a good PK, and he was also there the years the team had a below average PK. What does it means? The coaching and goaltending is what is more important regarding the PK. To me, Hal Gill was better than Gorges on the PK and it doesn't made him something better than a #6-#7 D-man. And like I said, and you seem to have read only what you wanted to read, I hold Gorges as a "perfect #6 d-man", not a "below-average d-man" like you seem to think.
As far as benching him, again, you may not have read carefully. I specifically said that he's good enough to never have to be benched, and that he does can chip in the top 4 if needed.
I think our respective vision of Gorges are not very different. All I'm saying is that I see him as being the ideal #6 d-man who had his career years in Montreal, meaning that he was effective enough to play in the top 4 for 2-3 years. But I don't think it is the case anymore.
