Gilmour has fond memories of two seasons with Canadiens
‘It’s like déjà vu’ with coach Julien replacing Therrien
There is a photo in Doug Gilmour’s new book — Killer: My Life in Hockey — from his childhood in which he’s on the ice wearing a Canadiens sweater. He was about 3 at the time and it’s the first hockey jersey he had.
“My parents aren’t alive now, so I don’t know where I got that jersey,” said Gilmour, who was in Montreal on Monday to promote his book.
Gilmour played for seven teams during his 20-year Hall of Fame career in the NHL and got to wear a real Canadiens jersey for two seasons: 2001-02 and 2002-03. He played for both Michel Therrien and Claude Julien during their first stints behind the Canadiens bench.
“Michel, I got along great with him,” Gilmour said about Therrien. “I wanted to play more, but that was his decision. When you’re an older player — 38, 39 — I know I’m not as good as I used to be, but it doesn’t go through your mind that way.
“He was like: ‘Relax. You’re going to play more as the year goes on. We don’t want you getting tired.’ I had Michel for a year and a half and then Claude, so it’s like déjà vu right now. Michel was great and Claude was great.”
Gilmour had contemplated retirement before signing with the Canadiens as a free agent in October 2001, a month after captain Saku Koivu had been diagnosed with cancer. The Canadiens lost the first two games with Gilmour in the lineup and before the next game in Buffalo, he put $5,000 in cash on the locker-room board as incentive for his teammates.
Late in the first period, Canadiens goalie José Theodore was knocked unconscious in a midice collision with Buffalo’s Vaclav Varada and Gilmour responded by taking Varada out at the knees, receiving a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
“I’m at one end of the ice, I see that and I’m gone,” Gilmour said. “I take him out, I get kicked out of the game. I got suspended two games. That two games plus the money on the board, it probably cost me $30,000, but Brian Savage scored three goals and we won.”
Gilmour said he didn’t really have a favourite team as a kid, but he was an offensive defenceman until he reached junior with the Cornwall Royals and his favourite player was Bobby Orr. In his new job as president of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs, Gilmour has seen a lot of Canadiens rookie defenceman Victor Mete in action with the London Knights.
“He’s a good defenceman. He’s got a lot of skill,” said Gilmour, who thinks he could have played defence in today’s NHL. “The game’s changed so much. If you have skill, you can play. My team now, we need an offensive defenceman. You can’t find them. When you have them, don’t give them up. The new game’s just changed so much.”