PITTSBURGH - When Hal Gill finished last season by hoisting the Stanley Cup in a Penguins uniform, he was hoping to spend a few more years winning in Pittsburgh.
It didn't work out.

The Penguins did not offer Gill a contract when he became an unrestricted free agent July 1, and the Montreal Canadiens scooped him up with a two-year, US$4.5 million contract.

Now Gill has the ultimate opportunity to prove his former team was wrong to let him go when the Canadiens begin their Eastern Conference semi-final series in Pittsburgh on Friday.

"That's the idea," Gill said Thursday at the team hotel as the Canadiens got a day off from practice. "Every shift you have

MONTREAL -- They call him “Skillsie,” like you call a bald guy “Curly” or a fat guy “Slim.”
“Is that irony? I don’t know if it’s the proper use of irony. The jumbo shrimp?” wondered Montreal Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill. “I’m not the skilled player. It is what it is. It’s a tough burden to bear, but I do other things well.

“There’s a lot of people out there in men’s leagues who probably have better hands than me, but that’s life.”

Yes, he does other things well.

Like lead the Canadiens’ penalty killing heading into Game 6 Monday might in the

Top notch former high school quarterback and catcher gives Canadiens badly needed size on the blue line with his 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame

Into the early 1990s, Hal Gill was a quarterback, a very good one, for Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton, Mass.

With his prodigious height, he towered over his offensive linemen to read the opposition defence. With his strong arm, he could get the ball downfield. Way downfield.

So now, sitting in the Canadiens' dressing room in the last days before his first regular-season game for his fourth NHL club - having arrived in Montreal as a free agent in July - Gill considers how his life might have turned out had he

Hal Gill signs with the Montreal Canadiens

Two years, $2.25 million per season for the big defenseman to join Les Habs.

Gill reportedly took the offer back to the Penguins to see if they would/could match, but Ray Shero obviously decided not to.

Gill becomes the first significant member of the Penguins Stanley Cup winning team to move on. Acquired for a 2nd and 5th round pick at the trading deadline in 2008, Gill was a solid addition to the Pens blueline.

Three cheers for the USS Hal Gill.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Penguins entered their second-round playoff series against Washington intent on having the defense tandem of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill on the ice against Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin as much as possible.

Heading into Game 6 at Mellon Arena last night, their plan had worked, for the most part.

While Ovechkin's total of seven goals during the first five games might strike some as evidence the Penguins' coaching staff should have considered another option, it actually was delighted with the work of Scuderi and Gill.

A more detailed look at Ovechkin's production shows

Friday, April 03, 2009

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is the Penguins' other scoring race.

Unlike the battle between league leader Evgeni Malkin and teammate Sidney Crosby, this one won't have a major impact on postseason awards or trophy voting.

It's the duel between Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, which has been overlooked by nearly everyone around the league because even the players involved aren't paying much attention to it.

But regardless of how few people have noticed, Gill has strung together four points in the past five games -- including two assists in a 6-1 victory Wednesday against New Jersey -- to climb within four