Gillies recently became active after being suspended for nine games for that absolute joke of a hockey game against Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. Against the Pens, Gillies took a cheap shot at forward Eric Tangradi, giving him a concussion. If that wasn't bad enough, he then proceeded to throw his gloves off and punch the injured Tangradi in the skull a few times before teammates came to his aid. He then stood in the locker room hallway, mocking Tangradi for some unknown reason. If he did that on the street, he would be arrested for assault, but because it was on the rink, it was a simple nine-game suspension.
The NHL assured everyone that nine games was enough to prove their point and they were certain that Gillies would learn his lesson. So what happens in his first game back? If you said, "He tried to injure another player," then you win a gold star. Gillies saw the Minnesota Wild's Cal Clutterbuck hit one of his teammates hard into the boards. Gillies, being a player with absolutely no scoring, passing or skating skill, took it upon himself to elbow Clutterbuck in the side of the head and drive him into the boards in an attempt to inflict injury.
The referees, probably fearing a repeat of the Pittsburgh game, immediately grabbed Gillies and issued him a game misconduct. I'm sure that makes Cal Clutterbuck's head feel much better, knowing that Gillies was given a stern talking-to before being escorted off the ice. To drive home the point that Gillies just does not get it, he said after the game that he didn't feel he did anything wrong and didn't deserve a penalty. When will the NHL get it through their thick skulls that this kind of criminal behavior needs to be taken out of the game?
Gillies, who has one (one!) point in 15 NHL games and only 21 points in 354 AHL games is not a hockey player, he's a thug. The problem is that violence breeds violence. As long as the NHL tolerates crap like this, more skilled teams like the Capitals, Penguins, Canucks and Red Wings are going to have to employ their own goons to counteract lesser team's goons. Islanders fans screamed bloody murder when their players were suspended following the Penguins debacle because, wait for it, the Pens actually had the nerve to have MATT COOKE on the team (cue ominous music).
However, this is not a New York fan-bashing article, it's a Trevor Gillies-bashing article. The man is an embarrassment to hockey and someone who deserves to be carrying puck bags, not lacing up skates.
Cal Clutterbuck is just the latest victim of a man (and I use that term very loosely) whose sole purpose on the ice is to inflict injury.
This is not 1974 anymore. The days of the Broad Street Bullies are long gone. The new NHL is Crosby, Ovechkin and Stamkos, not Brown, Probert and McSorely. The NHL needs to send the message that should have been sent after the Pittsburgh game: Trevor Gillies does not belong in the NHL.
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