Report: Blackhawks Sign David Gilbert
Reports on Tuesday are that the Blackhawks have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level deal with 20-year-old center David Gilbert. Gilbert was the last juniors-level player cut from the Blackhawks camp last fall, and had a good season with Acadie-Bathurst.
Gilbert is the latest name added to the organization, and the Blackhawks look to keep Rockford one of the youngest teams in the AHL.
He becomes he fourth prospect to sign an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks this calendar year: defensemen Dylan Olsen and Joe Lavin and forward Jimmy Hayes have already joined the professional ranks.
Olsen (U. of Minnesota-Duluth), Lavin (Notre Dame) and Hayes (Boston College) all began this season playing college hockey.
There is one thing that these four prospects share in common: size. Hayes is listed at 6-5 and 210, Gilbert is listed at 6-2 and 180, and Olsen and Lavin are both listed at 6-3 and over 200 pounds.
Two veteran free agents that had played in Rockford, forward Mathis Olimb and defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy, have left the organization to play in Europe. Meanwhile, Marcus Kruger, who played this season in Sweden, has joined the Hawks on North America.
The NHL average size is 6′-1″ 200 lbs. We need to dispel the thought that anything under 200 is BIG. I think a guy needs to be over 210 to be considered BIG these days. The Hawks have a lot of light weight puck moving “fast” guys in the minors that will or do get pushed around too easy. Even though a lot of these guys are tall, they still need some girth. The Hawks don’t need fighters. They just need to be able to push guys off the puck and win the corner battles. There are of course exceptions and some guys play strong for their smaller size, but the Hawks need a couple more actual big guys that are over 210lbs.
Does it mean that the Blackhawks no longer have rights to Olimb or Vishnevskiy? If so, since they were RFAs would there be compensation in late round draft picks awarded by the NHL?