For future reference, when people call you out for being a poster who has an anti-Rangers bias, it is because of posts like this, where you clearly demonstrate that you have no idea what you are talking about. McIlrath is fine with the puck on his stick. He's actually one of the calmer players on the team and excels at controlled exits out of the zone.
As for this "longer leash" that you think he "hung himself" with, what exactly are you referring to? He only got ONE extended run of games last season. It was due to injury. During that run of games, he was part of what was statistically our best pairing of the season. Even though that pair was playing amazingly well, AV still benched McIlrath in favor of Girardi with his busted kneecap. After that, AV only put McIlrath in for a game here and a game there (including one particularly idiotic game where he tried to play McIlrath as a winger). AV only played McIlrath in one of our five playoff games. It's the one game the Rangers actually won.
He'll never be a top pairing guy, but the second he gets away from AV and onto a team with a coach who will actually reward play rather than "warrior" reputations, he will very likely show himself to be what he was last season when given a chance--a very capable 2nd pairing guy who can cover for a more offensive partner and fire bombs from the point.
For previous examples of AV totally ****ing up his judgement on defensemen, see Michael Del Zotto, Anton Stralman, and Keith Yandle.