The Tom Gilbert Appreciation Thread

[Captain Mountain]

It has to be coaching. You don't go from being a big hitter to playing a softer game unless you're injured or the coach tells you to. PK doesn't exactly line up the big hits like he used to either. I'm pretty sure that it's discouraged due to the system that they're playing.

Its not coaching. Gilbert has NEVER been a hitter. Ever.

I'm not a Therrien fan, but he has nothing to do with Gilbert not hitting.

 

[No More Subban]

It has to be coaching. You don't go from being a big hitter to playing a softer game unless you're injured or the coach tells you to. PK doesn't exactly line up the big hits like he used to either. I'm pretty sure that it's discouraged due to the system that they're playing.

I'm not buying it. It's just Gilbert.


1 Alexei Emelin MTL D 29gp 85hits
2 P.K. Subban MTL D 31 37
3 Mike Weaver MTL D 26 29
4 Andrei Markov MTL D 31 28
5 Sergei Gonchar MTL D 15 16
6 Tom Gilbert MTL D 29 12
7 Nathan Beaulieu MTL D 16 11
8 Jarred Tinordi MTL D 9 11

 

[Tyson]

Not a lot of folks chiming on this thread because Gilbert and what he does is not fancy. He plays a simple game and does it without fanfare. He seems to mesh well with Beaulieu.
I recall last season that Murray played his best hockey paired with Nathan for about 10 games.
He does not break the bank. As yourselves this- Gilbert at 2.8 or Gorges at 3.9?

 

[habsfanatics*]

It has to be coaching. You don't go from being a big hitter to playing a softer game unless you're injured or the coach tells you to. PK doesn't exactly line up the big hits like he used to either. I'm pretty sure that it's discouraged due to the system that they're playing.

You've proven you know little to nothing about Gilbert as a player.

 

[De Montreal]

He's better on a 3rd pairing

 

[Bacchus1]

I've been impressed with Gilbert so far. He isn't flashy, but he gets the job done, and doesn't panic.

 

[vokiel]

He's decent with less ice time and some sheltering. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but everyone thought his 2 years contract would be a solution. It isn't, he's just a plug.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

He does fine. You can't have more than one guy like that in a d-core though.

 

[Blind Gardien]

I don't think I've been up or down on him overall over the course of the season... any complaints about him I've had aren't really about him... it's about the manager swapping out a better player like Gorges and only coming up with him as the consolation prize replacement, or about the coach using him top-4 when he's clearly more suited to a bottom pairing role. But in and of himself, he seems like a good component for that bottom pairing role. In a perfect world, probably would rather have gotten him on the "show-me" style deal than at $2.8M, but lots of teams are paying their regular experienced #5/6 d-men that much or more, so it's no biggie.

As others have said, this is a big step up from falling back to Bouillon or Murray rounding out our D corps. Gilbert as your #6 dman is somewhat luxurious. He has done a decent job.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

I don't think I've been up or down on him overall over the course of the season... any complaints about him I've had aren't really about him... it's about the manager swapping out a better player like Gorges and only coming up with him as the consolation prize replacement, or about the coach using him top-4 when he's clearly more suited to a bottom pairing role. But in and of himself, he seems like a good component for that bottom pairing role. In a perfect world, probably would rather have gotten him on the "show-me" style deal than at $2.8M, but lots of teams are paying their regular experienced #5/6 d-men that much or more, so it's no biggie.

As others have said, this is a big step up from falling back to Bouillon or Murray rounding out our D corps. Gilbert as your #6 dman is somewhat luxurious. He has done a decent job.

Gorges is already starting to break down this season. I'm not a huge Gilbert fan, but it was a clever move to get rid of him while we could.

 

[Blind Gardien]

Gorges is already starting to break down this season. I'm not a huge Gilbert fan, but it was a clever move to get rid of him while we could.

I understand that Bergevin was angling for Boyle, but the end result is something which has hurt us in the present tense. Having the backup plan available in Gilbert was at least good, in the sense that it didn't leave us totally exposed, but it was a failed ploy overall, hardly a "clever plan". Making the team weaker is not clever. Although in the sense of it being a calculated risk with a safety net somewhat in place, at least it wasn't as foolhardy as it could have been. I will reserve the label "clever plan" for something that actually works out and makes the team better. Bergevin has executed some of those already, so he has ample slack to get one wrong, no biggie overall. A GM only has to bat around .600 to be earning his keep. Gilbert was a good pickup in the circumstance.

 

[Fozz]

Getting Gilbert and allowing Emelin to play his strong side instead of Gorges hasn't made this team weaker. Gilbert has played well in the last month or so and gives us a much better transition game.

 

[Blind Gardien]

Getting Gilbert and allowing Emelin to play his strong side instead of Gorges hasn't made this team weaker. Gilbert has played well in the last month or so and gives us a much better transition game.

It has made us weaker, and not noticeably improved the transition game, although of course that was "the plan". Or hope. It hasn't worked out that way, a little too much emphasis was placed on which side the players played, although again understandable to "hope" that Emelin would have been better, though he hasn't been much, and it failed to consider how well Gorges plays on the right.

And for sure, there is not a "much better transition game" in effect with the team right now. You are quoting from the "the plan" which likely played into the trade, and it was all something which we all used to derive our hopes and felicitations from at the time of the move, for sure, but in hindsight, I don't see how anybody can think things have gone quite according to that plan. It failed, but again, through no fault of Gilbert's.

Or at least, it has failed for 30 games thus far. Things might come back around, particularly if Emelin does start playing noticeably better and/or if Gorges really does dissolve into some pale shadow of his former self. There is still time for that stuff to happen. Good thing is, it's a team game, and the composition of your #4/5/6 defenders isn't necessarily going to make or break your season anyway, as long as you have generally capable bodies in place, and Bergevin has done a good job getting generally capable bodies in place... Gilbert as the immediate fallback plan signing was part of that.

 

[Le Tricolore]

I like Gilbert. He's hardly noticeable, which is exactly what you want from a defenseman like him. I would have liked him to be a little more productive offensively, but it's not the end of the world.

 

[thewall]

Gilbert does what Gorges use to do which is block shots.. I thought he'd provide a bit more offense but he's not an offensive black hole like gorges was.. and he makes half his sallary!

 

[MathMan]

I've been impressed with Gilbert so far. He isn't flashy, but he gets the job done, and doesn't panic.

This is Gilbert in a nutshell. Thing is, he's like Diaz-only-better -- primarily a defensive defenseman, but one whose skillset suggests an offensive defenseman.

So he gets buried in the defensive zone, and when he doesn't produce points he gets fingered as a problem. That's not the point of Gilbert, but Montreal's coaching staff has not been very good at evaluating defensemen.

He may look bad at times, but all the Habs' D-men do, because the defensive structure and transition game are so bad. But that's not an issue with personnel.

 

[Chfan]

This is Gilbert in a nutshell. Thing is, he's like Diaz-only-better -- primarily a defensive defenseman, but one whose skillset suggests an offensive defenseman.

So he gets buried in the defensive zone, and when he doesn't produce points he gets fingered as a problem. That's not the point of Gilbert, but Montreal's coaching staff has not been very good at evaluating defensemen.

He may look bad at times, but all the Habs' D-men do, because the defensive structure and transition game are so bad. But that's not an issue with personnel.

Basically Diaz but he has what Diaz lacked to stay in the NHL, size. He isn't bulk at all, but he's so tall that he has reach. He's been very stable for a few weeks now.

 

[MathMan]

Basically Diaz but he has what Diaz lacked to stay in the NHL, size. He isn't bulk at all, but he's so tall that he has reach. He's been very stable for a few weeks now.

Frankly, I still think Diaz is easily a NHL player. But Montreal is not the only team that devalues players of this style. There's a reason why Gilbert has bounced around as much as he has, and there are any numbers of NHL clubs employing defensemen who are clearly inferior to Diaz (he's much better than Allen, for example).

 

[Smokey Thompson]

Frankly, I still think Diaz is easily a NHL player. But Montreal is not the only team that devalues players of this style. There's a reason why Gilbert has bounced around as much as he has, and there are any numbers of NHL clubs employing defensemen who are clearly inferior to Diaz (he's much better than Allen, for example).

Teams just identified that Diaz can be completely exploited by laying the body on him. Wingers just need to dump the puck and they'll easily win the puck battle and establish possession. Diaz basically becomes useless when that happens, and that always happens in play off hockey.

As for Gilbert, as others have stated he's been effective. You don't notice him, aside from the odd brain cramp give away, which is what you want from a guy like him. He's decent in the offensive zone in that he knows when to pinch, when to shoot / pass / send it down low. He's not very productive, but he's a solid possession pmd.