Full disclosure, from the first fight he unsuccessfully tried to pick in the preseason to the last unwilling combatant he bare-knuckle bopped in the face during the regular season, I haven't been all that fond of Kurtis Gabriel. That's partially by design, since his outdated game is predicated on leaving shame in the locker room and doing just about anything to coax opposing players out of their gloves. Still, I much prefer the Blake Coleman/Miles Wood-style of relentless pestering. I just find face punching for the sake of face punching to be a bit cringeworthy at this stage of the sport, so there may have been a time or ten in which I claimed that Kurtis Gabriel's presence in the lineup was a black eye on the entire organization. That stance had softened significantly as his hits had hardened and he started making more of an impact as an intimidating forechecker than as a complete sideshow, but his teary-eyed response to scoring his first NHL goal as a member of the New Jersey Devils has left it damn near mushy. I'm still not anything close to what you would consider a fan of him as a player, but I'll be damned if I can't respect Kurtis Gabriel the person for the resilience he's shown in chasing his dream and finally putting up stats more significant than wildly unnecessary instigator penalties. Therefore, differences aside, all the credit and congratulations are in order for a guy who has persevered through a bruising and humbling career path that looks like a stroll through the damn park in comparison to his rough childhood. Pretty cool to see how much he appreciates being a part of the Devils' organization, so - though I'd prefer it were at a lower level - I appreciate him being a part of it too. Though I'm not even sure he considers it as prized a possession as the real estate he owns in Zach Bogosian's brain, it's awesome that he now has the seeing eyes of a meaningful milestone puck to show for it.
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