Player Check-Up: Matt Gilroy

On April 17th, the news broke that the Rangers had signed Hobey Baker defensemen Matthew Gilroy to a two year contract. Gilroy, 25, comes out of Boston University, and grew up in Bellmore, New York. Numerous NHL teams inquired about Gilroy last spring, offering him contracts after winning the NCAA Championship, but it was New York that Matt chose to sign with, and from a Ranger standpoint, it has been paying off.

For the past few years, the Ranger Brass has been on the lookout for a mobile defensemen that can make the outlet pass, and then follow that up by joining the rush. With Tortorella coming in, and stressing that his defense pinch when possible, the need for the artistic D was even higher. The funny thing is, the Blueshirts signed several "big name" defensemen in the free-agent market, and even traded for some along the way as well, but none of them were capable of meeting these simple expectations. This off-season, however, General Manager Glen Sather finally had his head straight, and decided to take the youth approach, signing Matt Gilroy for cheap. Gilroy has certainly met those expectations, and has only played in four games.

Going into the pre-season, many felt that the 6-2, 205 pound blueliner was automatically going to be a part of the Rangers defensive unit in 2009-10. These assumptions were coming before even seeing Gilroy play a game, but once this kid took the ice for the first time in the pre-season, you could quickly tell that the Blueshirts had something special on their hands in Matt.

Gilroy has much offensive talent with the puck, and it is displayed each and every game. The way in which he is able to rush the puck, maintain control, and create a scoring chance is breathtaking, especially when considering that this kid is only a rookie. After playing in only a few exhibition games with the Rangers, Matt was already beginning to be compared to Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch by New York fans. That is one of the most honorable comments to receive from the tough Garden crowd, who are very critical when it comes to their defense. In fact, there may have not been any other player in the NHL that was able to rush the puck like Leetch, and here is this 25 -year old in his rookie year being compared to Brian. That says a lot about the kind of talent that Gilroy possesses.

The play that stands out in my mind when Gilroy is mentioned, was his goal against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in September. Matt started out of his own zone, crossed through center ice where Sean Avery and Aaron Voros combined to get Gilroy the puck, who split the Devil defense, and deked goaltender Yann Danis for a top shelf tally. Just on that play, it was evident the type of player that Gilroy is, as he perfectly timed when to join the rush, and then put on an offensive show with his hands. (WATCH HERE)

Now to look at his overall regular season performance through four. It seems that as each game is played, Gilroy becomes more and more experienced and responsible. For example, against Pittsburgh, Matt was guilty several times of pincing in the wrong situations, which led to odd-man rushes in favor of the Penguins. In his own zone, for the most part, Gilroy was great in that game. In the second contest against Ottawa, Gilroy was much better at timing his pinches, and only made one blatant mistake, when he mis-played the pass that resulted in a goal for Daniel Alfredsson. Granted, Gilroy was gassed on the play, but it was a clear rookie mistake.

The third game against the Devils, I thought, was Gilroy's best at that point. Not only did he register his first official NHL goal, but after the first period, Matt was lights out in front of Henrik Lundqvist. It is interesting that both Marc Staal and Matt Gilroy scored their first NHL goals on Martin Brodeur in New Jersey, and we hope that Gilroy can become just as reliable as Staal is on and off of the ice.

Speaking of Staal, he received the main duty of handling the red hot Alex Ovechkin last night in Washington, and he more than held his own. Assistant Coach Mike Sullivan mentioned that since Ovechkin takes such long shifts, they must always have two defensive pairs ready to go when he steps onto the ice. Yesterday, Staal was primarily shifting against OV, but it was Matt Gilroy that was sent out to shut-down the Russian star after Staal came onto the bench, and Gilroy was exceptional. There was no hesitation in Matt to meet Alex right at the blueline, where he repeatedly stick checked the puck off of the blade of Ovechkin. For Gilroy, he must take pride in the fact that he is being relied on to defend against the league's top goal scorer at such an early stage in his career, and it also shows how the Ranger coaching staff feels about him.

Overall, there is much work to be done with Matt Gilroy, but as I have said many times, the starting point is much higher than most rookies. Matt takes on the role of offensive-defensemen on this team, and he does one hell of a job of doing it for a rookie. I love the way he joins in on the rush, helps out on the forecheck, but then uses his superior speed to back-check on the opposing forwards when the puck changes possession. In the future, Gilroy and Staal can become one of the top defensive tandems in the NHL, and in my opinion, the 25-year old has a decent shot at winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's most successful rookie in 2009-10.

(Pictures courtesy of AP Photo and Getty Images)