Born in Montreal, Gilbert grew up a fan of the Montreal Canadiens. While playing junior hockey for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the OHA in 1960, Gilbert slipped on some garbage strewn on the ice and fell back into the boards, breaking a vertebra in his back and temporarily paralyzing him. Corrective surgery went awry and led to hemorrhaging in his leg, and doctors feared amputation would be necessary, but Gilbert recovered. After finishing his junior career with the Guelph Royals, Gilbert joined the Rangers near the end of the 1960–61 NHL season. He soon became popular with the Rangers' fans, and he rose in prominence as an NHL star. However, it was not without pain. In 1965–66, his career was nearly derailed when he went through a second spinal fusion operation. This surgery was performed by Dr. Kazuo Yanagisawa. Gilbert was out of action for half a season, but he bounced back in 1966–67 and scored 28 goals. On February 24, 1968, he scored four goals in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Ratelle-Hadfield-Gilbert line, called the GAG line, proved formidable for years. He played with Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1976 for his perseverance over his back troubles. At the beginning of the 1977–78 NHL season, Gilbert and Rangers' General ManagerJohn Ferguson got into a contract dispute. When Gilbert finally returned to play, he was no longer the Gilbert of old, and retired after 19 seasons, having never won the Stanley Cup. His number 7 was retired by the Rangers on October 14, 1979, the first number to be retired by the team. In 1969 he owned his first restaurant. After his playing career was over, he opened his own restaurant 'Gilbert's' on Third Avenue near 75th street in Manhattan. As of 2017, Gilbert makes upwards of 30 appearances a year on behalf of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, an outreach program that works with children in the community.
Personal life
Gilbert married Judith Christy in 1991, in a ceremony conducted by New York mayorDavid Dinkins. Gilbert is one of ten athletes who were featured in American artist Andy Warhol's 1979 Athlete Series of paintings, which featured prominent sports figures from the 1970s. Others in the series include O.J. Simpson, Chris Evert and Pelé.
