Development Camp 2013: John Gilmour
By Ryan Pike
10 years ago
Providence College freshman John Gilmour ended his first year of college in a rather unique way – by being drafted by an NHL team. The native of Montreal – who in no way is related to Doug Gilmour – is a teammate of 2012 Flames draft picks Mark Jankowski and Jon Gillies, which most likely got him on the club’s radar.
The finance major put up 13 points in 38 games as a freshman, but was generally regarded as a solid two-way blueliner rather than a stellar offensive threat. But if the Friars are expected to take a leap forward in the NCAA pecking order this season, Gilmour will be relied upon to maintain his defensive stance while pitching in a bit more offensively.
The 198th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft was in attendance at Flames development camp earlier this month, where I had the chance to speak with him a bit.
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Ryan Pike: What was it like to hear your name called by Calgary, a team where you already know some guys?
John Gilmour: I was ecstatic. Really great feeling. Just to get drafted to the NHL is such an honour, especially a good city like Calgary where they love their hockey. It’s great.
You’re getting accustomed to the NHL with the development camp – probably your only taste this year because of school – is it helpful that you have teammates here?
Absolutely. It’s not like I’m meeting a bunch of new faces – I am, also – but it’s easier with other people who are helping me adjust here at development camp, and it’s nice to see some familiar faces.
You’re also seeing some guys from Hockey East that are teammates right now but will be facing you in Hockey East in the fall. Are you scouting any of these guys?
We’ll play a bunch of these guys all year. They’re all really great players. It’s really competitive out here. We pretty much know what they’re all about, and they’re all skilled, you can’t really get a really good read on them all the time – they’re always getting better and you’ve just got to do the same.
Providence College was a young team last year, but you opened a lot of eyes and impressed people. What are your goals for next year, because obviously you want to keep getting better?
Our goal is to go as far as winning a national championship and winning Hockey East. We think we can do it because we came pretty far last year. We’re just playing with our finish. With all the young guys in our line-up who are getting all the experience now, we feel like there’s no excuse not to win.
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