NHL reporter Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe reported this afternoon that 38 year-old defenseman Hal Gill has been invited to the Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp. Reporter Josh Rimer confirmed the news via twitter, stating, “Just spoke with Hal Gill who’s very excited that he’s signed a professional tryout agreement with the Philadelphia Flyers.”
Gill spent eight seasons with the Boston Bruins after graduating from Providence College in 1997. He was a key member of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ blueline during both of their trips to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009, culminating in a Cup win against the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.
He was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Nashville Predators in 2012 as part of an “all-in” roster loading by the Predators’ management group, but a two-year extension in the following offseason was bought out this past July.
In 32 games last season with the Predators, Gill had zero points and an average time on ice of 13:23.
At 6′-7″, Gill was never a mobile, puck-moving defenseman at any point in his career. His role was that of a physical, punishing stay-at-home defenseman with above-average positioning. He could still arguably serve as a 6th or 7th defenseman in the NHL, but most teams prefer using inexpensive prospects in those positions to serve as “tryouts” for the top two pairings.
Gill isn’t the first veteran free agent to accept a PTO with an NHL team, but he’s the first to sign one with the Flyers. Even Simon Gagne has not been officially invited, and he actually plays a position with an opening on the roster.
Due to general manager Paul Holmgren’s inability to find a trade that he was comfortable with in the offseason, the Flyers are heading into camp with nine NHL defensemen and a handful of players that could be contenders for the bottom pairing in a season or two. It seems odd that the team would bring in another defenseman when the odds of him making the team are slim to none, but there’s always a chance that “nine defenseman” could turn into “seven healthy defensemen and two with mysterious upper/lower body injuries” by the time camp opens.
If there are, in fact, injuries to existing players with his skill set (i.e. Luke Schenn or Nicklas Grossmann), hopefully defenseman Oliver Lauridsen is ready to compete with Gill for that “emergency depth defenseman” position.
Training camp officially opens on September 12.
His agent must have a connection with homer and doing him a favor as there is no room for this guy on his best day at this point in his career. Hope the Cleary rumor is true.
Quotes from Gill by Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly suggest that Gill doesn’t expect to make the roster; this is more of a courtesy from the Flyers so that he has somewhere to train while waiting for a roster opening around the NHL. So yeah, just a favor.