Chicago Blackhawks: Dennis Gilbert is going to be a solid player

The Chicago Blackhawks like what they have in a lot of their defense prospects, but Dennis Gilllllllbert has quietly improved his game.

The Chicago Blackhawks went from a pretty bad prospect system in terms of defensemen, to a really nice group of young players who could be on the blue line for them one day. There are the noted guys like Adam Boqvist, Nicolas Beaudin, and Ian Mitchell. All of those guys get lots of attention and could be in the NHL sooner than later.

Then there is a guy like Dennis Gilbert. Gilbert was a third-round pick by Chicago in the 2015 NHL Draft. He played his college hockey at Notre Dame. He is a left-shot defenseman that can play a solid game that could translate to the National Hockey League in the right situation. The reason he doesn’t make the same noise as the other top defenseman in the organization is that he isn’t flashy at all. He isn’t one to score or help create offense or throw a big hit.

All he does is be in a sound position and do the little things to help his team win hockey games. He is currently the captain of the prospects team playing in Traverse City in the 2019 Prospects Showcase Tournament. He is on the top defense pair with Boqvist and the two of them have worked really well together. Gilbert is the type of player that will cover for Boqvist if he gives the puck away trying to create offense. Those are the guys you need on the back end along with the star players in order to win hockey games.

Think of a guy like Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the San Jose Sharks. He is the sound defensively guy on a pair with a superstar defenseman like Brent Burns. Now, Gilbert will likely never be as good as Vlasic but the concept remains the same and that is to be the guy that can be relied on if your partner makes a mistake.

Gilbert is on his pro deal and has a full season in the American Hockey League under his belt. He has made his NHL debut, as he has one game played against the St. Louis Blues. He was good in the game as his Corsi For is at 50 percent and had a block and six hits in 12:46 of ice time. He also took a two-minute minor in the game. The best thing you can hear about a player like Gilbert is nothing because that means he is playing to his strengths to help his team win. It will be fun to see if he gets another call up again in 2019-20.