Taken from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe and Josh Rimer of Sportsnet, and then confirmed later by the Flyers themselves: Hal Gill has signed a professional tryout agreement with the club.
Gill, a Providence College product who was part of the first wave of defensemen from the late '90s whose job it was to be big, immobile and stop forward progress through the neutral and offensive zones, failed to record a point in 32 games with Nashville a season ago.
The 38-year-old has logged 1,102 games of professional experience since breaking into the NHL with Boston in 1997, winning a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009.
Though a long shot to make the roster that now has nine defensemen, Gill, the closest living blueliner who can provide what was lost with the injury-plagued exit of Chris Pronger, is another example of burly old-school reassurance for the back line.
The move came as a shock to more than just the fan base. CSNPhilly's Tim Panaccio tweeted the following Saturday afternoon: "should say not all in Flyers organization were aware Gill was coming in on a tryout."
If it's true that GM Paul Holmgren believes "you can't have enough defensemen," that may be a death knell for the possibility of re-signing Simon Gagne, as his cap hit will likely be larger than Gill's if it came down to a matter of how much needs to be cleared in order to sign another player.
Gill, for his part, told Panaccio that he doesn't think it's an opportunity to take a roster spot from anyone.
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