Wild to buyout Tom Gilbert

English: Tom Gilbert in 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Michael Russo, the Minnesota Wild might have found their first candidate for one of the two compliance buyouts. I think it would be a great move. Gilbert was absolutely brutal last season on the blue line for the Minnesota Wild.

Michael Russo, Russo's Rants -- The Wild plans to place Tom Gilbert on unconditional waivers, sources say. That is the first necessary step to buy out the remaining one year of the veteran defenseman’s contract.

When Gilbert clears, the Wild plans to use one of its two allowable compliance buyouts on the 30-year-old native of Bloomington.

What's unclear, and we'll know soon, is whether Gilbert will go on unconditional waivers today or tomorrow. A correction to yesterday's blog: Teams have until tomorrow to put somebody on unconditional waivers for the purpose of using a compliance buyout by tomorrow's 4 p.m. CT deadline.

Gilbert will receive $1 million in each of the next two seasons (two-thirds of his $3 million salary), but it will free up an additional $4 million of salary cap space this summer for the Wild.

The move is designed to give Minnesota more flexibility this offseason. One can assume the Wild will need to add a defenseman or two this offseason. Gilbert would be free to sign with any team once free agency opens at 11 a.m. CT Friday.

Here was my grade season ending grade for Tom Gilbert that I submitted for the Hockey Wilderness. Incidentally, I look like I will be getting my wish as Justin Falk was traded this week to the New York Rangers.

Tom Gilbert: D

The former Wisconsin Badger Tom Gilbert is an utter disappointment in my opinion, that Wild are being cheated, he’s not worth the money he’s being paid. Gilbert is being paid a hefty four million a year to be a turnover factory and an unimpressive top-six defenseman. If I was a general manager for a day, he would be the first Wild player out of Minnesota; Justin Falk would be number two. The Wild should consider his four million dollar contract for an Amnesty buyout this summer as well. If they Wild could trade him for a bag of wood hockey sticks I would urge them to consider the deal. One positive is that he can’t play any worse than he did this season. Nowhere to go but up for Gilbert, I don’t think he can play any worse. Looking at the stats, in the plus/minus department, -11 is brutal.

Related articles

• Tom Gilbert: Wild Trade Bait? (hockeywilderness.com)
• Minnesota Wild Final Season Grades: Right D (Staff Writers Grades) (hockeywilderness.com)

Bryan Bickell hits Tom Gilbert

In football we used to have a saying, it's better to be the hammer, than the nail. Ouch! Check out this big time hit by Chicago Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell puts on Minnesota Wild Defenseman Tom Gilbert.

Updated Wild Wild Depth Chart

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune has the updated the depth chart for the Minnesota Wild. Seems like the Wild have a lot more talent to work with than other years. It will be interesting to see if former Denver Pioneer Jason Zucker can make the Wild out of training camp or if he will need a year in the minors before he makes the Wild.

It also seems like the Wild have a few pieces that they could trade if they had to. One question mark is whether Wild forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard will be able to make a comeback after suffering another concussion last season.

FORWARDS

Left wing-Center-Right wing

First line: Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Dany Heatley
Second line: Devin Setoguchi -Mikael Granlund-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Third line: Matt Cullen-Kyle Brodziak-Cal Clutterbuck
Fourth line: Darroll Powe-Zenon Konopka-Torrey Mitchell
Extra: Matt Kassian

Vying for spots: Kassian, Stephane Veilleux, Jake Dowell, Jason Zucker, Brett Bulmer, Charlie Coyle, Johan Larsson, Nick Palmieri, Zack Phillips, Chad Rau, Jarod Palmer, Kris Foucault, David McIntyre, Carson McMillan, Justin Fontaine, Joel Broda.

DEFENSEMEN

Left-Right

First pair: Ryan Suter-Jared Spurgeon
Second pair: Marco Scandella-Tom Gilbert
Third pair: Clayton Stoner-Justin Falk/Nate Prosser
Extra: Falk/Prosser

Vying for spots: Falk, Prosser, Jonas Brodin, Steven Kampfer, Matt Dumba, Brian Connelly, Tyler Cuma, Chay Genoway, Drew Bagnall, Kyle Medvec, Josh Caron, Colton Jobke

GOALTENDERS

No. 1: Niklas Backstrom
No. 2: Josh Harding
In the wings: Matt Hackett, Darcy Kuemper

Shanny blows up "Car Bomb"

Let's see, Daniel Carcillo has been suspended nine times by the NHL, this is the third time that Carcillo has been suspended this season. Do you see a pattern here? Either the league is picking on Carcillo or he hasn't learned his lesson.

NEW YORK – Chicago Blackhawks forward Daniel Carcillo has been suspended for seven games and will forfeit $66,158.54 in salary for boarding Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert during NHL Game #571 in Chicago on Monday, Jan. 2, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

Carcillo, who was suspended on Nov. 28, 2011, is classified as a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Accordingly, he forfeits his salary based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (185). The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 7:23 of the second period. A major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct were assessed on the play.

Carcillo will miss games Jan. 5 at Philadelphia, Jan. 6 vs. Colorado, Jan. 8 vs. Detroit, Jan. 10 vs. Columbus, Jan. 12 vs. Minnesota, Jan. 14 at Detroit and Jan. 15 vs. San Jose. He will be eligible to return Jan. 18 vs. Buffalo.

Carcillo will forfeit in salary what some people don't make in one year. It's not quite clear whether Carcillo will have to be healthy before he can begin to serve is seven game suspension, because Carcillo was severely hurt on the play and was placed on the injured reserve list. In this situation, I must commend Brendan Shanahan for throwing the book at Carcillo.  

Related articles

• Bourque, Carcillo suspended for 'reckless' hits (thestar.com)
• Dan "car bomb" Carcillo suspended indefinitely (mvn.com)
• You can't say dumb with out Carcillo (mvn.com)
• Carcillo to have hearing for dangerous hit on Oilers' Gilbert (tsn.ca)
• Carcillo to be suspended for 6th time (cbc.ca)

Dan "car bomb" Carcillo suspended indefinitely

This is going to be the third suspension of the season for Dan Carcillo, you would think this guy would have learned by now. How long of a suspension would change his on ice behavior? I say throw the book at this buffoon, 5-10 games, if Carcillo is injured he should have to serve his suspension after he comes back from his knee injury.

Jesse Rogers ESPN CHICAGO -- News that Blackhawks forward Dan Carcillo is suspended indefinitely for his boarding of Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert can't be a shock to anyone who follows the Hawks or Carcillo. He will be able to state his case to the league at some point and then he'll finish serving his third suspension of the season. And this all happens after he recovers from his injuries.

That's one costly hit.

After talking with hockey people around the league on Tuesday, the consensus is Carcillo will get 4-6 games for the blow. No more.

Related articles

• You can't say dumb with out Carcillo (mvn.com)
• Dan Carcillo gets ejected for hit on Tom Gilbert (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Carcillo to be suspended for 6th time (cbc.ca)
• Watch Dan Carcillo earn himself a probable date with Mr. Shanahan with this hit on Oilers Tom Gilbert (hubballsbubble.wordpress.com)

You can't say dumb with out Carcillo

There is this saying about "Karma"... Wow!!! If you haven't seen this; check out this moronic move by Chicago Blackhawks dunderhead Daniel Carcillo. Really?!? What the heck is this guy thinking? First, Gilbert didn't touch the puck, second Carcillo wipes out himself and Gilbert and hurts both of them. Like the Hawks announcer said, "that's going to be a suspension."

Edmonton Journal --- To make matters much worse, the Oil then lost top defenceman Tom Gilbert to a reported knee injury after he was grossed out by Hawks’ instigator Daniel Carcillo on a dirty and dangerous hit into the end boards.

The boards were still rattling when the Hawks play-by-play man Tom Foley called it as he saw it. “Oh, that’s gonna be a suspension. Danny Carcillo put Gilbert badly into the end boards, and Dan Carcillo is going to have a meeting with Brendan Shanahan.” Good call, Tom.

It will come as no surprise to hockey observers that Carcillo, a noted cheap shot artist, would be considered a repeat offender. He’s been suspended five times since 2008 including twice in 2011, the last of which was a dangerous hit from behind on Joni Pitkanen that bore more than a passing resemblance to the Gilbert hit.

Related articles

• Schuster: Carcillo Costs His Team Big Time (chicago.cbslocal.com)
• Dan Carcillo gets ejected for hit on Tom Gilbert (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Oilers win chippy game against Blackhawks (cbc.ca)