Prospect Profile: Matt Gilroy

With all the commotion of free agency and Glen Sather’s dedication to add scoring, its easy to forget about the defensemen the Rangers have in their system.  Among them is Matt Gilroy, who signed a 2-year $3.5 million deal on April 17th, 2009.

BIO: A native of Long Island, Gilroy, 24, played high school hockey for St. Mary’s, where he was captain and won two New York State Championships in the process.  He then began his junior hockey career playing for Apple Core in Long Beach and later played in the British Columbia Hockey League.  Gilroy was an accomplished forward during his junior years. After a stint with the Walpole Junior Stars in the ECHL, Gilroy walked-on to the Boston University Terriers in 2005-2006.  With no forward positions available, Gilroy made the transition to defenseman, where he contributed immediately.

In his freshman year, he played in all but one game, tallying 8 points with a +21 rating.  In his sophomore season, Gilroy blossomed, garnering his first of three All-American honors.  He was named assistant captain and played in every single game, netting 26 points with a +18 rating.  Gilroy’s junior year was more of the same, again playing in every game while scoring 21 points with a +17 rating.  It was at this point, however, that Gilroy began turning heads and started to become a legitimate NHL prospect.  He was garnering so much attention that he even told BU Head Coach Jack Parker he was going to test the NHL free-agent waters after his junior year, and likely leave the team after he was signed.  As a result, Parker gave Gilroy’s scholarship to another player, but Gilroy ultimately decided to hang around and finish up his degree.  Since the scholarship was no longer his, however, Gilroy’s played his senior year without a scholarship.  Not much changed though in terms of Gilroy’s on-ice contributions.

Gilroy dominated college hockey as a senior, reaching career-highs in almost every category.  The team captain helped lead BU to their third Beanpot title in 4 years and again led the team in plus-minus.  Gilroy’s accolades included his third All-American selection, a feat accomplished only by fellow New York Ranger Chris Drury and Rick Meagher, as well as the 2009 Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top college hockey player.  Gilroy’s last college game was the National Championship against the Miami-Ohio Redhawks.  With his team trailing 3-2 and less than a minute to play, Gilroy pulled off one of the most unselfish of plays in a clutch moment, assisting the game-tying goal (fast-forward to 5 minutes to see the goal).  BU would eventually go on to win, and Gilroy would round out his college hockey career as one of the most decorated players ever.

SCOUTING REPORT: 6 foot, 2 inches.  202 pounds.  Excellent hockey sense, responsible defenseman.  Rarely found out of position.  Great ice vision.  Excellent puck control and passing ability.  Good two-way player.  Exceptionally strong skater.  Character player, who can project as a future captain.  Leads by example.  Does not have a great shot.  Will not use his body as often as he should, but will use it when necessary.  Projects as a second-pairing defenseman

BSB Analysis: It’s hard for me personally to say anything bad about this guy, having the same roots here on LI (his hockey career turned out a little better than mine though).  What I love about Gilroy is that those roots are humble.  Being a walk-on at a major university could not have been easy.  He knows he has to earn everything he plays for, and should have little trouble mentally adjusting to the NHL.  Having Chris Drury nearby also helps, as he was instrumental in bringing the BU blue-liner to the Rangers.  His play in the title game and being named assistant captain in just his second year at BU really shows you the type of leader he is and what the other players in the locker room think about him. His plus/minus ratings while at BU are simply staggering.  That and the fact that he only missed one game during his 4-year career really stand out to me.  Durability, versatility, responsibility, and leadership are probably his best attributes, and those alone can take you a long way. When they originally signed him, I believed they were going to move him back to forward, given the Rangers ineptitude for offense and the deep depth chart on the blue-line.  With the changes in free agency and the new regime beginning to take shape, I don’t see that happening anymore. As a prospect, Gilroy has a lot going for him.  He is 24, which is several years older than his fellow prospects, and he already has a big contract.  Ultimately,  I think Gilroy makes the team as a defenseman out of training camp for those 2 reasons alone, but mostly because of his poise and moxy.  He just doesn’t seem like the type of player who will get rattled when things go south, and us all being Rangers fans, we have seen plenty of newcomers do so.

***For more on Matt Gilroy’s play at the NHL level, please click here.

Prospect Camp Participants

Rangers rookie camp starts today, and the Blueshirts will have 26 players, of which 16 the Rangers own the rights to, attending camp. Five of the seven draftees from the 2009 draft will also take part in camp (non-roster invitees in italics:

Forwards:
Ryan Bourque, Max Campbell, Paul Crowder, Evgeny Grachev, Chris Kreider, Justin Soryal, Derek Stepan, Ethan Werek, Chris Chappell, Craig Cunningham, Trent Daavettila, Matt Maccarone, Luke Pither

Defense:
Michael Del Zotto, Tysen Dowzak, Mitch Gaulton, Matt Gilroy, Ilkka Heikkinen, Tomas Kundratek, Daniel Maggio, Luke Curadi, Samuel Klassen

Goalies:
Scott Stajcer, Keith Kincaid, Ben Scrivens, Travis Yonkman

Interesting to note that Bobby Sanguinetti isn’t in camp this year, same with Michael Sauer.

Gilroy nominated for 2009 ESPY Award

Former BU All-American Captain and current Rangers prospect Matt Gilroy has been nominated for the 2009 ESPY Award for Best Male College Athlete.  The Long Island native lifted BU to the 2009 National Championship, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top college ice-hockey player along the way.  On April 17th, just 6 days after winning the title, Gilroy signed a 2-year $3.5 million contract with the Rangers.  His fellow nominees include Sam Bradford of Oklahoma (football), Blake Griffin of Oklahoma (basketball), Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State (baseball), and Tim Tebow of Florida (football).

That’s some incredibly elite company for a college hockey player, a student-athlete who doesn’t get any attention whatsoever.  When you consider that Bradford won the Heisman, Griffin will be the #1 pick in the NBA draft tonight, Strasburg was the #1 pick in the MLB draft and is “one of the greatest pitching prospects ever”, and Tebow has been baptized Superman and all that is holy by half the press, its a pretty impressive feat.  Say what you want about the ESPYs (i.e. total popularity contest), but its one of the few events that bridges sports, whether its high school, college, pro, olympic, extreme…whatever.  So to be included in one of the categories is a pretty nice honor.  Chances of him winning are basically zero, due to the reasons previously stated, but a special honor nonetheless.

Blueshirt Banter’s Chat with Prospect Park

The guys over at Blueshirt Banter organized a live chat with Jess Rubenstein from Prospect Park and Blueshirt Bulletin yesterday. You can check it out here. Jess is more or less definitely the prospect/draft expert ’round these bloggin’ parts, and covers a lot of questions regarding the draft and the current status of the prospects in the system. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should.

If you missed it, and are too lazy to read through it, Blueshirt Banter will be doing a Blog Radio Recap of it tonight, details here.

It’s a slow morning, both in the news front and the work front. Expect more later from me.

Grachev Named Top Rookie

Today, the OHL announced that Ranger prospect Evgeny Grachev has been awarded the Emms Family Trophy as the OHL’s top rookie.

Grachev, 19, finished his rookie campaign with 40 goals and 40 assists in 60 games, finishing with an astounding +48. This award is just one of many awards won by Grachev, who was named the Rookie of the Month in November and December.

Grachev has a bright future ahead of him, and could wind up making an impact on the Rangers sooner than initially expected.

Prospect Profile: Michael Del Zotto

Michael Del Zotto was the Rangers first round pick (20th overall) in the 2008 NHL draft. Before being drafted in 2008, the 18-year-old defensemen was coming off two great seasons in Canadian Junior Hockey, playing with the Oshawa Generals. In his two seasons there, he put up 26-94-120 with 160 PIMS and a +6 in 128 games during the regular season. In the post-season, he put up 5-12-20 with 52 PIMS and a -4 in 24 games over two seasons.

Del Zotto began the 2008-2009 campaign with the Oshawa Generals, putting up 7-26-33 with 48 PIMS and a -12 in 34 games, before getting traded (with John Taveras) to the London Knights, where he has been putting up even better numbers, if that’s even possible. In 28 regular season games with the Knights, Del Zotto put up 6-24-30 and 30 PIMS and a +9. As of this post, he has played two games in the playoffs this year, putting up 5 assists and a +1.

The six-foot, 210-pound Stouffville, Ontario native can only be categorized as a top talent offensive defensemen. Del Zotto saw his stock price drop before the 2008 draft, with questions about whether his numbers were inflated, having played the majority of his junior career with John Taveras (consensus #1 pick of the 2009 draft), and Steve Stamkos (#1 pick of 2008) before him. Currently ranked the #2 prospect in the entire Rangers organization, Del Zotto has upside that goes beyond playing with two #1 picks. Aside from his numbers, Del Zotto has an incredible vision on the ice, and makes a very crisp first pass. He has shown that he is capable of joining the rush as a trailer, or even leading rushes himself as the puck carrier. He is incredibly poised as a puck carrier, and never seems to panic with the biscuit. His time spent as a forward in his earlier years gave him soft hands and a lethal shot to go with his superior puck carrying abilities.

As with most young, still developing offensive defensmen, Del Zotto has to be better in his own end, particularly in recognizing when it is the proper time to jump in on the rush. He has a habit of jumping in, or trying to create his own rush, at inopportune times, and that leads to scoring chances for opponents. He also has an issue containing attacking forwards, ie: using his body to keep them to the outside on the rush and push them off the puck.

As eluded to above, Del Zotto also needs to learn how to position his body better. This mostly stems from Del Zotto’s ability to deliver a big hit, as he is unafraid to use his body in this sense. The concern here is that he tends to take himself out of the play attempting to deliver a big hit, instead of just using superior positioning to muscle the rusher off the puck.

Both of these concerns are common for teenage defensemen, and Del Zotto has shown the poise, determination, and competitiveness to overcome these deficencies. It is also worth noting that these question-marks are linked. As Del Zotto learns how to contain attacking forwards, the use of his body to deter these oncoming forwards will mature.

Del Zotto, if he reaches his full potential, can be a #1 defensemen/power play quarterback. More conservatively, Del Zotto can pan out to be a top-four defensemen, with the ability to quarterback the powerplay. With the glut of Ranger defensemen, both signed and in the system, there is reason to rush Del Zotto through the system. He needs more seasoning to sharpen his defensive skills and physical play before being an effective NHL defensemen. It is highly unlikely that he will play the 2009-2010 season professionally, so expect to see him with London for one more season before jumping to Hartford for a season or two.

For now, you can salivate while thinking of the possibilities of having a top-four of Del Zotto-Staal-Sanguinetti-Girardi and the potential it brings.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Prospect Profile: Derek Stepan

Derek Stepan, the Rangers 2nd round pick of last year’s draft (#51 overall), is an 18 year old center currently playing college hockey for Wisconsin. Before being drafted, he played for the very talented Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school hockey team. That school should sound very familiar, it’s produced players like Zach Parise, Ryan Malone, and the Cry Baby himself, Cindy Crosby. During his final season playing for St. Mary’s, he netted 44 goals and 67 assists for 111 points in 63 games. The year before, he scored 41 goals and 75 points in 63 games. He likes to play along the boards and work for loose pucks, showcasing his ability to make plays and score goals during his time at St. Mary’s.

Playing for Wisconsin in his freshman year, Stepan has put up 6 goals and 18 assists for 24 points in 30 games and is the second leading scorer on the team. It’s safe to assume that Stepan’s build (6’0 168 lbs) is working against him right now. He will need to fill out in college before coming over to the AHL. The Rangers are also lucky that they don’t need to rush any of their centers to the NHL, as there is quite the logjam at the position.

Perhaps Stepan’s best trait, aside from his ability to serve as a goal scorer and a playmaker, is his defensively sound play.

“Stepan has the ability to make plays and score goals. He understands how to do all the little things defensively that are such an important part of winning hockey games.” Ray Clearwater, Rangers’ amateur scout.

He also doesn’t take many penalties, with just 6 PIMs all year with Wisconsin. That’s 3 minor penalties in 30 games. Aaron Voros gets 3 minors in one period.

Currently, Stepan is ranked #10 on the Rangers prospect list on Hockey’s Future. He will surely move up on the list as he develops more and fills out. Hockey’s Future lists him as a potential #2 center as a ceiling, which I agree with if he fills out properly. Between him, Artem Anisimov and Evgeny Grachev, the Rangers have three solid center prospects.

Hockey’s Future Q&A with Derek Stepan

Alexander Frecon of the great site Hockey’s Future recently sat down for an interview with the Rangers’ second round pick from the 2008 Draft, University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman center Derek Stepan. You can see the full interview here, but here’s a fun little snippet:

HF: What hobbies help distract you from hockey when you need a break?

DS: Haha. Actually lately I’ve been playing Halo 3. My roommates and I actually had our box broken but [linemate Jordy Muray] fixed it up this winter so whenever we get a little worked up we put that game on and we start playing and it’s nice to relax. We play a lot of video games, it’s pretty much everyone’s relaxer I bet.

I love seeing what these guys do for fun in their spare time, because it’s basically the same exact stuff I did when I was that age. I guess it’s because I subconsciously think these guys are different than the rest of us, when in fact they’re not. Check out the rest of the interview, it’s a nice read.

Update (11:56pm): HF named Artem Anisimov their Prospect of the Month.

Profile: Evgeny Grachev

Grachev, currently with the Brampton Battalion of the OHL, was the Rangers 3rd round pick, #75 overall, in the 2008 NHL draft. His stock is quickly growing, due to his outstanding play with the Battalion (39 GP, 27 G, 26 A, 53 Pts, OHL rookie of the month in November), and he currently sits in the top 5 Rangers prospects (as per HockeysFuture). Grachev, just 18 years old, and is listed at 6’2, 202 lbs (though probably more like 6’4 and 215), so he, unlike Artem Anisimov, has already filled out his big frame.

Grachev uses his size to his advantage, and this is where he differs from Anisimov. While Anisimov has not yet filled out his frame to be a dominating physical force, Grachev has, and he has demonstrated this during his time on the Russian U18 team last year. He excels at driving to the net and banging home rebounds, something that this current Rangers team could learn a lot from. For a big guy, Grachev is still a strong skater with an above average shot and decent puck handling skills.

The biggest concern around Grachev is his quickness. Last year, while playing for the Russian U18 team, his slower feet and decision making skills were exploited by the Canadian team. The young Russian will need to work on getting faster and quicker if he wants to have a long and successful career in the NHL. He is also developing a presence in the face-off circle, but has a long way to go.

The potential for Grachev is right up there with Anisimov, as the two are being talked about as one in the same. If he develops his foot speed and his face off prowess, then you could be looking at a #1 center in the best case scenario, and a top-six forward for those who are going with the conservative take.

The center position looks very strong down the road for the Rangers, and they may soon have the tough decision of who to shift to wing. Currently they have Gomez, Drury, Dubinsky and Betts lining up at center, with Anisimov knocking on the door and Grachev right behind him. Things are looking good down the middle.

Profile: Artem Anisimov

Artem Anisimov was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round (54th overall) in the 2006 draft, and is currently ranked the #1 prospect in the Rangers organization. He is just 20 years old, and stand at 6’3″, with some filling out to do. When all is said and done, he will probably reach 6’3″, 220 lbs.

Anisimov is projected by many to be the Rangers #1 or #2 center in a few years, and he is the most NHL ready prospect the Rangers have in the system. He is currently averaging more than a point a game (20/26/46 in 44 games) in Hartford, and is one of the few Hartford players that is on the positive side of +/-. He has superb hands that make him an excellent passer with a deceptively quick shot. Playing in Hartford, he has developed into a very strong two-way center.

He is not the speediest of players, but centers rarely are. Don’t mistake that for Anisimov being slow though, he is a great skater for someone his size. His sizs and strength make him difficult to move off the puck, and his quick hands make him adept at handling the puck while in traffic.

A big center with great hands that can shoot, pass, and play defense is a rarity in the NHL. Anisimov’s lanky frame hurts him in the faceoff circle a little bit, but as he grows, he should become better in that category. I want to compare him to Mats Sundin in terms of playing style and size, but it may be a little too early for that. His future on this team is a top 6 forward, possibly the #1 center.