"I really like to join in the rush whenever I can, create some offense back there and make plays down low," Gilroy said. "I know where to go, unlike other defenseman, who get confused."

"They play a skating game, and my game is built around my skating," he said. "I should fit nicely."

Gilroy, 26, is a great underdog story. A walk-on at Boston University, he switched to defense because that was the team's only opening, and in 2009 he won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top collegiate player.

In two seasons and 127 games with the Rangers, the 6-foot-1, 201-pounder had seven goals, 26 points and 37 penalty minutes, and was plus-5.

"We like his skating ability and his ability to transition the puck up the ice," Lightning GM Steve Yzerman said. "We're hoping he can be a real good contributor."



Lundin :kerdo::megijed::rosszulvan:

The signing gives Tampa Bay eight defensemen, which, for now, is how Yzerman said he expects to enter the season. "We did it last year, and we needed it," he said. "By playoff time we were down to our eighth defenseman."