Ex-Ranger Gilroy signs with Lightning
North Bellmore native Matt Gilroy looks on against the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden. (Oct. 3, 2009) Credit: Getty Images
Matt Gilroy, the defenseman from North Bellmore who played two years with the Rangers, has agreed to a one-year deal with Tampa Bay, the Lightning said Saturday.
At last week's draft in Minnesota, Rangers general manager Glen Sather said restricted free agent Gilroy had not been given a qualifying offer, which would have been worth $2.1 million, based on his salary last season. Sather said Gilroy wanted to test the market "to see what's out there."
Gilroy, 26, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top college player at Boston University, was 4-11-15 in 69 games in 2009-10 and 3-8-11 in 58 games this past season, often finding himself odd man out in coach John Tortorella's rotation.
On Thursday, Tortorella said Gilroy improved in the last quarter of the season. But the June trade for Swedish defenseman Tim Erixon appeared to make Gilroy's decision easier.
Rangers get ThurresonThe Rangers traded Brodie Dupont, a center who was drafted in 2005 and has played only one NHL game, to the Predators for Andreas Thurreson. The 23-year-old Swedish center, who is 6-1, 212 pounds, played 25 games for Nashville the past two seasons with a goal and two assists . . . Justin Soryal, 24, a left wing who amassed 220 penalty minutes for the Connecticut Whale last season and was not given a qualifying offer, signed a one-year contract with Carolina.
