Habs Trade Deadline Begins: Gill Traded to Nashville

Gill has big perceived playoff value and the Grossman trade showed were the market was for stay at home defenders. On the good side of the range of what I figured Gill would get.

For Nashville, they have the defensive depth to shelter Gill 5 on 5 and can use him to free up Suter and Weber for more 5 on 5 and PP minutes by getting him to lead the penalty kill.

I suspect the consensus will be positive if only because, generally speaking, I’m not sure people were anticipating an immediate 2nd rounder plus assets, even if one could argue their value remains to be seen.

The trade works for both sides, but Poile clearly stepped up as the buyer.

Still, I’m not seeing any mention of how Brad Marchand is a lowlife weasel, and I think it’s a consideration integral to the discussion.

Last year you’d have an argument but he’s been absolutely brutal this season. Plus is a year older than Palushaj. In terms of chance of having a meaningful impact at the NHL level Aaron has to be ahead of him at this point. Would be as good of a prospect as anyone else in Hamilton at this point though (not that that is saying much).

Gill has limitations, but if sheltered properly will be a valuable player in the Preds playoff run.

I loved the guy. He will look bad at times because he is not fleet afoot, but he is an elite penalty killer and his jumbotron spots in Montreal are hillarious!

Hal Gill is clearly showing a few signs of age. He went from a tough minutes defenseman paired with Subban at the beginning of the year, to a more sheltered 3rd pairing guy who doesn’t get a lot of offensive zone starts, but isn’t trusted enough to take a purely defensive role. Using Gill this way has actually worked out pretty well as his possession numbers are only slightly below even, despite the terrible play of the team overall. He’s also still quite the successful player when used properly as his risk/reward is relatively solid. Where Gill has been hurt the most is in the scoring chance differential, which has lead to a 9 true +/ rating through 42 games. He has a lot of value as a penalty killing specialist, but is likely not a player who a team will want in a top 6 role going into next year, at least not for the $2.25 million he’s making this season. Surprisingly though, considering Gill’s lack of foot-speed and style of play, he only takes 2.3 penalties per 1 that he draws which isn’t too bad.

First Quarter Grade: 6/10

First Half Grade: 5/10

Good: Elite on the penalty kill. Sound positionally. Defends the slot fantastically.

Bad: Can’t handle top 4th minutes or assignments. Needs shelter and a decent partner.

Ugly: Can’t skate.

I think they wanted a prospect as a throw in to add to the 2nd rounder. His PR value is probably why he was selected over your other mid-range prospects.

Skillsy is a 3rd pairing guy. He played on our top pair last season, but Subban carried him.

One thing I noticed though looking at capgeek for Geofrrion’s contract is that the Habs have a heck of a lot of cap space this year. There’s room to pick up a big ticket should they want to go that route, or serve as a dumping ground for an inconvenient expiring contract for a cap-strapped team.

Say, if LA wanted to dump off Dustin Penner to acquire someone else, the Habs could grab him for futures (with a pick maybe) and try him out.