Gilroy earning coach’s trust, more ice time

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Matt Gilroy may not be the most complete defensemen. In fact, he isn’t a top-four defenseman at all. But this isn’t the same Matt Gilroy that came to the Rangers after college and was immediately exploited for not being NHL ready. Gilroy has some NHL experience under his belt now and it’s showing, as Torts has been playing Gilroy over ten minutes per game in the absence of Dan Girardi.

It’s interesting to see Gilroy getting the playing time over veteran Steve Eminger, but it’s clear the coaching staff has seen something in Gilroy’s game that is making them rely on him more than Eminger or Stu Bickel. Gilroy isn’t without his flaws, as he does have many, but he brings more to the lineup –specifically against teams that skate well– than the other two spares.

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Rangers, Gilroy agree to terms

Per Larry Brooks, the Rangers have agreed to terms with defenseman Matt Gilroy. The contract is believed to be for one year at $650,000. We noted that Gilroy adds some much-needed depth and flexibility to the Rangers blue line, and was number two on the list of things we can expect the Rangers can do with business operating as usual.

The lockout is over, what can we expect from the Rangers?

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With the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding yesterday the NHL lockout officially ended, and teams are now free to pursue business as usual. Teams are now finally allowed to sign free agents (restricted or unrestricted), make trades, make call ups, and perform other duties required for the start of the season.

For Glen Sather and the Rangers, there isn’t much to do to get this team ready for the season. Their top 12 forwards are already set, as are their top six defensemen and two goaltenders. That said, there are a few moves we can expect the Rangers to make in the coming days, some obvious, some not so obvious. Let’s get into the moves we should expect the Rangers to announce

1. Sign Michael Del Zotto

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Kreider, Gilroy at camp as only CT participants, for now

Per Jim Cerny, both Chris Kreider and Matt Gilroy are skating at “camp” today. While Kreider was an expected Whale camp invitee, Gilroy’s status was always a bit up in the air. With his inclusion in camp, two things are assumed: 1) Gilroy will likely get an NHL contract when the league resumes business as usual on Sunday (this could be dependent on how he performs at camp), and 2) Kreider and Gilroy are the only players from the Whale roster who will get a look during mini-camp.

If assumption #2 is correct, then J.T. Miller may not be invited to camp. This is mostly because of the nature and timing of camp this year, and not an indication of how the organization views Miller.

Who are the possible midseason call ups?

(Photo by Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images)

No matter how much we choose to ignore it, injuries happen to every NHL club. Players get banged up, nicked up, and bruised just like everyone else. It is one of the reasons why teams spend some time and money building their depth in the AHL, as these players can come to define a season. Some players, like Ryan McDonagh, can even make veterans expendable (see: Rozsival, Michal). Others enter in an attempt to shake things up (Carl Hagelin) or due to large numbers of injuries (Stu Bickel). Either way, AHL depth is often an overlooked quality for perennial contenders.

As the Rangers call up more players, their depth in the AHL diminishes slightly. Gone are the big effects of Hagelin and McDonagh. Even Bickel has parlayed his call up into a two-year deal. The Rangers already have a spare forward (Michael Haley) and a spare defenseman (Steve Eminger) on the roster, but the injury bug isn’t always that friendly. As multiple players go down, others will need to be brought up.

Naturally, the role the injured player has will affect the player called up, so let’s look at the strong possibilities to fill these important roles:

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Does Gilroy solve the defensive depth issues?

Matt Gilroy is back on Broadway.

When Matt Gilroy re-signed with the Rangers organization (currently spending his time with the Connecticut Whale), it was presumed that if/when the NHL season begins, Gilroy will be back with the NHL club. It’s not as simple as calling him up, but that actually plays into the Rangers’ favor.

Gilroy is currently inked to an AHL contract, meaning that he would have to sign an NHL deal with the Rangers before he can skate with the club post-lockout. While that’s a bit of a bump in the road in that Gilroy can’t be immediately called up, it does help the Rangers since Gilroy would need to pass through waivers. It’s semantics, but the end result is still Gilroy with the Rangers, filling a role of bottom-pairing and/or depth defenseman.

Barring injuries, and assuming that Anton Stralman doesn’t regress, that leaves Gilroy, Stu Bickel, and Steve Eminger fighting for the sixth, seventh, and eight defensemen roles.

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Connecticut adds familiar face, signs Matt Gilroy

Welcome back Matt Gilroy to the New York Rangers organization. Recognizing that they are (very) thin on defense, CT GM Jim Schoenfeld turned to a familiar face by signing the former Ranger defenseman (per Larry Brooks).

Matt Gilroy has signed AHL contract with Whale. Prodigal free agent D presumably will sign with Rangers when lockout ends.

What Brooks adds there is an interesting little tidbit, as the Rangers were short on defensive depth last season. Remember that Gilroy was a free agent when the lockout began, which made him free to sign with any AHL club. Gilroy will remain with Connecticut for the duration of the lockout, and as Brooks mentions, might be up with the Rangers once the lockout is over.

In two seasons with the Rangers, Gilroy contributed 7 goals and 19 assists in 127 games before signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2011-2012 season. That year, Gilroy finished with a line of 3-17-20 in 67 games with Tampa Bay and the Ottawa Senators.

Grachev, RFA, Qualifying Offer Notes

After the draft ended yesterday, Glen Sather was pretty candid about the RFA situations, qualifying offers given, and the Evgeny Grachev trade. Regarding Grachev, it appears he asked out of NY over a year ago, and that the Rangers had been shopping him all year. St. Louis was the only team interested, which severely limits his trade value. That surely explains not only the trade, but the lack of return for a kid with that much potential. It does make you wonder why he wanted out though.

As for the RFAs, Slats stated that all RFAs have been given qualifying offers except for Matt Gilroy. Gilroy QO of $2.3 million was too much for the Rangers, who offered him a separate deal, which he rejected. Gilroy will now hit the open market on July 1. As for the remaining QO’s, the dollar value is as follows:

Artem Anisimov – $803,250
Brian Boyle – $605,000
Ryan Callahan – $2.4 million
Brandon Dubinsky – $2.0 million
Mike Sauer – $550,000

Slats does not expect the Rangers to sign any pending RFAs prior to July 1, which gives them flexibility to go after UFAs, particularly Brad Richards.

Stay Or Go: Matt Gilroy

Matt Gilroy has been a disappointment in his two seasons in New York.  Signed to a two year, $3.5 million deal out of Boston University, Gilroy was brought in to provide offense from the blue line.  Gilroy did not produce, and at points was seen as a liability when inserted into the lineup.  As a converted forward, the defensive lapses aren’t surprising, and were somewhat expected.  The problem herein lies with the lack of production, as without production, you cannot ignore the defensive lapses.

Gilroy played in 69 games in 2009-2010 before being sent down to the AHL to work on his game.  It appeared that he had hit the proverbial “NCAA Wall”, which affects many NCAA players making the jump from college to the pros.  In that season, he generated just four goals and 15 points.  Gilroy played less than 12 minutes per game, and was rarely seen on the powerplay or the penalty kill.  He was essentially a $1.75 million third pairing defenseman, and one that didn’t add anything special to the mix.

This past season, Gilroy’s play wasn’t stellar, but it was better.  The production still wasn’t there –just three goals and 11 points in 58 games– and he was still being caught out of position.  He found himself as a healthy scratch for many games, especially after the Rangers called up Ryan McDonagh and acquired Bryan McCabe.  He was simply living up to his projection of a sixth/seventh defenseman. 

Gilroy was re-inserted into the lineup in April as the Rangers were closing in on a playoff berth.  In desperate need of offense, the thought process was that Gilroy’s offensive prowess would help out the team.  Well, the Rangers made the playoffs, and Gilroy played well enough to earn himself a roster spot.  During the playoffs, Gilroy’s play was much improved, as he seemed to be less jittery than some of the rookies on the blue line.  His previous playoff experience in the Frozen Four paid off, as he was one of the stronger Rangers skaters in the first round loss to Washington.  He wasn’t really noticeable, except for that first goal of the series, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for a defenseman.

In the end, Gilroy’s play in the playoffs probably saved his future with the Rangers.  The Rangers currently have five defensemen they are 100% bringing back (McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Mike Sauer, Michael Del Zotto), which leaves spots open for the sixth and seventh defenseman.  Of course, this all boils down to money, and Gilroy will simply not be getting his $1.75 million per season in his next contract.  If he wants a matching contract, he will not be a Ranger.  If he’s willing to take a paycut, then I would keep him around for a year or two.  He still has that potential to add offense.  Keyword there being potential.

Could the Rangers Look the Same Next Year?

As the Rangers looked to get in to the playoffs down the stretch and now in the playoffs, some of the Rangers best players have been their oldest. These were players deemed not good enough for other teams, even players that didn’t have a team. Ruslan Fedotenko –a try out in camp don’t forget– may have summed up the Rangers work ethos with his spectacular defensive play earlier in this playoff series against the Caps, while Vinny Prospal continues to log big minutes and score important goals. The Rangers should look to bring back both players. Both players –albeit in different ways– lead by example for the Rangers. If it’s not Prospal’s enthusiasm and offense, it’s Fedotenko’s work rate and hunger. Even as the Rangers mature next season these are two players that the younger roster players can still learn from.

Then there’s the forgotten man in New York this year, Michael Del Zotto. A poor start to the season (certainly in comparison to his rookie year) culminated with demotion and injury to cap a miserable 2^nd year as a pro for the skilled defenseman.  However barring a spectacular trade offer, Del Zotto will be a Ranger next year – they clearly still value the talented blueliner. On top of the likely return of Del Zotto is the news (rumour?) that the Rangers are considering offering a new deal to Matt Gilroy. Add all this up and do the math – there are a lot of familiar faces that should or could be returning next year.

The one position that will likely see a major change is the top line center. With Brad Richards permanently linked to the Rangers, they appear to have their answer in the Dallas pivot.  But beyond Richards there may be little change on the horizon. That’s not a bad thing, as the free agent market (beyond Richards and goaltending – certainly not a need) is very weak and most of the Rangers prospects would benefit from another year of seasoning. Bringing back this year’s club with Richards as an upgrade is still a very good, competitive (and still young and developing) team. Bringing back Prospal and Fedotenko as the veteran presence every team needs is the right thing to do. Many doubted Prospal’s ability to recover from his long injury but he’s proven (and is still doing so) that there is still a lot left in that overly tanned body of his. Fedotenko is low maintenance and would be cheap – as well as building a team with the right players the finances need to add up and both veterans should fit in to the financial plan.

Obviously there are a few maturing prospects that could make the team (Weise, Grachev, Valentenko) and several others, maybe getting looks in camp (Thomas, Bourque) that will excite and lead calls for another shot of youth next season but Rangers fans shouldn’t be disappointed if next year’s club looks similar to this year’s. A developing team shouldn’t be rushed and this year’s team is showing Rangers fans that there’s a lot to like and a lot to get excited about already adorning red, white and blue.