Whale Sign Matt Gilroy

[chilly666]

HARTFORD: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Matt Gilroy on an American Hockey League contract.

Gilroy, who was the 2008-09 Hobey Baker Award winner as a senior at Boston University, has skated in 194 NHL games during his three years as a pro, with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators. Last season, the 6-1, 201-pound North Bellmore, NY native played in 53 games with the Lightning, scoring two goals and adding 15 assists for 17 points and registering 16 penalty minutes, before being traded to the Senators February 27 in exchange for Brian Lee. In 14 games with Ottawa, Gilroy tallied one goal and two assists for three points, while serving two minutes in penalties. He also was scoreless in three postseason games with the Senators.

Prior to 2011-12, Gilroy, 28, spent his first two pro seasons with the Rangers, the Whale's parent club, after signing as a free agent April 17, 2009. In 127 games in a Ranger uniform, Gilroy notched seven goals and added 19 assists for 26 points, and posted 37 PIM. In NHL action for his career, he has totaled 10 goals and 36 assists for 46 points, along with 55 penalty minutes, in 194 outings.

Gilroy's only previous AHL action was a five-game conditioning stint with the then-Hartford Wolf Pack in December of 2009, in which he contributed four assists and served four PIM.

As a B.U. Terrier, Gilroy amassed 25 goals and 67 assists for 92 points in 160 games over four seasons, after making the team as a walk-on freshman in 2005-06. He was a First-Team Hockey East All-Star for three consecutive years (2006-07 through 2008-09), the first-ever Boston University defenseman to accomplish that feat, and finished his college career having played in 146 consecutive games. In his senior year of 2008-09, in addition to capturing the Hobey Baker Award, Gilroy helped lead the Terriers to an NCAA title as team captain. He led all Hockey East defensemen in points that season, with 8-29-37 in 45 games, and finished third among all NCAA blueliners in point-scoring.