Gill had to wait patiently to hear his name called. Sitting at home with his parents, grandparents, and billet family from juniors, Gill saw his name flash across the screen during the seventh round, as Tampa Bay selected him with the 223rd overall pick.
Following the pick, there wasn't a whole lot of time for Gill to celebrate.
"I think it was five or 10 minutes after I got picked that Stacy Roest called me," said Gill. "He said I was on a flight the next day.
"I just spent the rest of the night with my family. We went out for dinner and then I got packed up and ready for the week."
Less than 24 hours after hearing his name called on TV, Gill found himself in the Sunshine State. A native of Moncton, New Brunswick, Gill's entire hockey career has been played across the border in Canada. This week, he'll be on the ice for the first half of his day before stepping outside to temperatures of 90 degrees and higher.
But the majority of his time here in Florida will be spent at the rink, learning the ins and outs of the organization while meeting a lot of new people and working to improve his play on the ice.
"It's been awesome," Gill said. "It's all I could have imagined. The weather's beautiful. People are friendly.
"Everyone here in the organization is very open and welcoming. It's my first time being around the organization, so it's special. There's a lot of new learning curves, but I'm doing my best to take it all in."
Gill has spent the last two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Last season, he skated in 66 games, scoring six goals and adding 15 assists for 21 points. The team's number one defenseman also appeared in three playoff games and picked up an assist. Look for Gill to continue his development with the Huskies next season as well.
When asked about the kind of player he is, Gill described himself as a "two-way defenseman that can play in all situations."
"I'm trustworthy," Gill explained. "In junior, I can log a lot of minutes. I play against the other team's best guys. I play with confidence. I have a high hockey sense and I'm patient with the puck."
Whether they were picked in the first round or the seventh round, Lightning prospects will all share the same ice this week at Development Camp. The opportunity to learn and grow is what's most important for those players and that's exactly what Gill is looking to take advantage of during his time down south.
"For me, the most important thing is just learning," said Gill. "There's a lot of knowledgeable people here. It's the best of the best.
"I just want to take away as much as I can to build my game, build my style of play, and learn the stuff that they're teaching us."
The Bolts prospects took a visit to AMALIE Arena earlier this week and had the opportunity to tour the Tampa Bay locker room. For Gill, seeing the facilities just made him hungrier. The work has just begun for the seventh-round pick, but ending up in that dressing room is the ultimate goal.
"It's incredible," Gill explained. "It's state of the art and obviously everyone who's there is lucky to be there.
"You've got to work to get there. It's a little bit of a reward for all your hard work, but what's most important is you've got to just keep pushing yourself to get there."
Seventh-round selections have made big impacts on the Lightning organization in the past, whether it be Ondrej Palat or Pavel Kubina. For Gill, the work has just begun as he looks to be the next late-round find to make an impact for Tampa Bay.
