It wasn't until he was in the OHL that Gabriel really began to set his sights on getting to the National Hockey League.
"My whole life I've always had goals, I've always worked very hard," Vilardi shares. "My parents were both very hard-working and they always told me: 'If you work hard, there's nothing you can't achieve.' So I just kind of worked and worked, I knew I wanted to play in the OHL from - when I was 13 or 14 my brother got drafted so I knew I wanted to go there - and then when I got drafted there I knew I wanted to get drafted in the NHL."
Hailing from Kingston, Vilardi followed the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs growing up and always knew the OHL was for him. He was a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Briere and current Kings teammate Jeff Carter, but the first NHL game he ever attended wasn't until the age of 16 when he went to see an Ottawa Senators game.
In Vilardi's three seasons in the OHL with the Spitfires and eventually his hometown Frontenacs, the center tallied 157 points (68-89=157) in 143 games. Following his OHL career, Vilardi was drafted by the Kings in the first round, eleventh overall, in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
Prior to the draft, Vilardi was ranked the No. 4 North American Skater by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. On March 1, 2018 Vilardi signed a three-year entry level contract with the Kings and debuted with the Ontario Reign later that November.
Chronic back issues delayed Vilardi's NHL debut, which finally happened on February 20, 2020 as the Kings hosted the Florida Panthers. While his debut may have taken a bit longer than anticipated, he didn't have to wait long to score his first NHL goal, which came less than 10 seconds into his first shift, on his first shot. With his family it attendance, Vilardi set a new NHL record for fastest first career goal.