From the NHL.com article by John McGourty (FULL STORY ›):
The Montreal Canadiens were on their way to a fourth-place finish in the Northeast Divison and out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Feb. 25, 2007, when they traded veteran defenseman and team leader Craig Rivet, and a fifth-round 2008 draft pick to the San Jose Sharks to get the Sharks’ first-round draft pick that summer. They also got an undrafted defenseman who had 1 goal and 9 assists in 96 NHL games over two seasons, Josh Gorges.
Rivet played well for the Sharks that season and the next, helping San Jose to the Western Conference Semifinal each year before being traded last summer to the Buffalo Sabres with a 2010 seventh-round pick for second-round picks the next two years.
All eyes were on the Canadiens when they used that 22nd pick to select Max Pacioretty, the highly touted American left winger who was coming off a USHL Rookie of the Year season with the Sioux City Musketeers. Pacioretty went to Michigan for a year, where he was named CCHA Rookie of the Year and named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team. He had 5 goals and 17 assists in 35 AHL games with the Hamilton Bulldogs this season and is now up with the Canadiens.
Even if Pacioretty doesn’t meet expectations, the deal is a winner for the Canadiens because of the strong play of Gorges. A defensive defenseman, Gorges has paired well this season with Roman Hamrlik. He moved up to the first pairing with Andrei Markov last month when Mike Komisarek got hurt and did well. He has 1 goal, a power-play tally against the New York Islanders in November, and 6 assists in 38 games.
But Gorges’ most important statistic is his team-leading plus-16 rating. He ranks third, behind Markov and Hamrlik, with an average of 20:48 minutes per game. Hamrlik leads the Habs with 90 blocked shots, Gorges is next with 88. He’s third on the defense with 16 takeaways. He led the team in plus-minus as well as blocked shots in both November and December.
“He’s a young player who has been playing very well for us and he stepped in and played with me when Mike Komisarek got hurt,” Markov said. “He did a very good job. Normally, he plays with Roman Hamrlik and they are very effective together.”
If you’re not familiar with Gorges, or you’re not convinced he’s a good NHL player, you’re fueling his engine because Gorges has been fighting against other people’s low expectations for years. He wasn’t drafted into juniors and wasn’t drafted out of juniors, despite leading his hometown Kelowna Rockets to the 2004 Memorial Cup.
Gorges was preparing for Wednesday’s 6-3 win against the New York Rangers and told NHL.com that “nobody puts more pressure on me than I do.” He was asked if it was that drive that led him to a Memorial Cup, the captaincy of the Rockets, the AHL rookie of the year, the 2005 Sharks’ Player of the Year, and a silver medal in the 2004 World Juniors. He reacted as if he’d never thought of it that way.
“Hmmm, yeah. I guess so,” Gorges said. “Over time, you gain a lot of experience, playing in different situations. I played in big games in the Memorial Cup and in the World Juniors. A lot of people are watching and there are a lot of expectations from a lot of people.
“I learned at an early age that you can’t please everyone. There will be a lot of people doubting you. There’re a lot of people saying you can’t do it and a lot of people saying you better do it.
“You can’t control that. All you can do is go out and give it your best, play your game. I’m proud of myself because I’m playing as hard as I can every night. Whatever happens, happens. But I can look at myself in the mirror and say I gave it everything I had. If you can do that, you’re going to be happy with yourself and the people around you, and the people watching you, are going to be happy too.”
