Tom Gilbert

[jaymur]

Would I be pissing into the wind thinking that Gilbert could put up Bieksa like numbers. He looked good in the 12 games he played problem is can he keep it up:unsure:

[Thieving Giraffe]

jaymur wrote:

Would I be pissing into the wind thinking that Gilbert could put up Bieksa like numbers

Kid\'s got potential, but not without a better supporting cast than he\'ll get next season in Edmonton.

Better wear the stain-free pants...


_

Post edited by: Thieving Giraffe, at: 2007/05/31 22:46

[Thieving Giraffe]

Thieving Giraffe wrote:

Better wear the stain-free pants...

What, somebody knocks my karma because of that? Bah.

Dobber/Bugg, what\'s your long-term take on Gilbert?

_

Post edited by: Thieving Giraffe, at: 2007/06/04 01:04

[Dobber]

That\'s probably not the reason. That would be silly. You\'re already the second-highest Karma guy anyway, so no biggee. I\'ll boost ya back up.

[Zorro]

T.Giraffe, I am curious aswell...

Is Gilbert going to be a stud or dud?

[Screaming Jawa]

Thieving Giraffe wrote:

Thieving Giraffe wrote:

Better wear the stain-free pants...

What, somebody knocks my karma because of that? Bah.

Dobber/Bugg, what\'s your long-term take on Gilbert?

_<br><br>Post edited by: Thieving Giraffe, at: 2007/06/04 01:04

Oooh... you\'ll probably lose Karma not just for actually keeping track of it, but for bringing it up on the boards. Ouch.

(No, I will not touch it.)

[Thieving Giraffe]

LOL, I just thought it was funny and was going to ask about Dobber/Bugg\'s take on Gilbert anyway. You\'re right though, somebody did send it back down again. No biggie.

Thoughts on Gilbert?

[Dobber]

I just realized that he is not on the defensemen\'s list. I would slot him in there ahead of Filip Kuba and Cory Murphy - he has some potential and I think he\'ll be the No. 2 or 3 guy this year for Edmonton...depending on who they pick up.
Don\'t be surprised if he gets 40 points this year.

[Zorro]

40 points 2nd year.wow. I would take that as a \"sign him up\".

[doulos]

I\'ll be very surprised to see him get anywhere near to that many points next year. If that happens I\'ll be a very happy Oiler fan.

So much of he does is going to depend on what Lowe does in the offseason in terms of bringing in a defenseman.

I would be far more comfortable saying he\'ll be brought along slowly with limited ice time for the first good chunk of the season, since I suspect the Oilers will see some new faces on the back end (whether they are decent faces is debateable), so he will see less ice time then he was getting at the end of last year.

I\'d put him down for maybe half of that for points but he\'ll be steady.

[Zorro]

I have a feeling Smid and Gilbert will be near the top in minutes for the OIL, from the back-end ofcourse. Staios and Smith are still there but who knows what will happen.

[doulos]

Hate to dig up old threads, but some more thoughts on this care of some chatter elsewhere.

Grebeshkov is looking to become more and more of a bigger piece of the Oiler puzzle this year. MA Bergeron was traded for this guy, along with a pick, and right at the time of year when it could be argued that the Oilers were not technically out of the playoff hunt. It is clear that the OIlers have big plans for this kid. He already has a decent amount of pro experience for a 24 year old and I would be shocked to not see him get the second PP time ahead of a guy like Gilbert.

In fact, I wouldn\'t be surprised to see Gilbert start the year off down in the AHL or being the rotating press box guy, particularly if the Oilers do sign 1 or 2 bigger name rearguards before the season starts.

Now factor in the rumours of a Tarnstrom signing in Edmonton and you have even more of a log jam back there.

Tarnstrom + (traded for dman or UFA dman)
Smid + Staios
Smith + Grebeshkov

Greene is still in the mix and Hejda is uncertain as well.

Gilbert could have a great training camp and earn himself some PP time ahead of a guy like Grebs (we\'ve seen MacT stiff Russians before with ice time *cough Mikhnov*), but he\'s going to be in real tough to earn himself quality minutes next year no matter what happens.

[Dobber]

Bringing in a UFA would change things, i.e. Tarnstrom. However, I\'m still confident of Gilbert. His transition to the pro game was seamless. His ice time in Edmonton averaged 10-11 minutes per game for his first four games.

He averaged 23 minutes per game in his next eight games.

MacT loves him. He runs the PP. I haven\'t done my predictions yet and gone through my formulas, but I really think he is mature enough and ready to get 40 points this year.

[gdon]

Gilbert was one of their top four last year. Depending on Staios rehab he may be dropped down a peg as far as minutes go next year as he\'s getting older. Gilbert was even ahead of Smid although Smid has more potential. I see:
Smith + (Redden???/Spacek???)
Gilbert + Greene
Staios + Smid/Grebeshkov.


Grebeshkov still needs some seasoning and MacT never throws any rookie out unless he has to. So for the first part of the season I think Grebeshkov will be watching and will have to play his way (i.e. be way better than anyone else) to earn regular minutes.

[doulos]

So many questions. Should be interesting to see.

With Petry looking like a decent pick and Chorney doing well also, it seems the Oilers are figuring out how to scout defenseman at least. Forwards? Well that remains to be seen.