Penguins sign defenseman Matt Grzelcyk

Pittsburgh adds veteran defender on one year deal

The Penguins have made a move in free agency and added defenseman and signed defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. Grzelcyk, 30, has spent his whole career and life just about in Boston — the Charlestown, MA boy was drafted by the Bruins in 2012 and played at Boston University prior to that. Now he trades one set of black and gold for another with a move to Pittsburgh.

As far as signings go, this is definitely one of them for the Penguins. It’s only for one season, which is a positive aspect. As Jesse Marshall points out, Grzelcyk will help at moving the puck out of the zone, but he has been on a downward trend as of late.

After peaking from 2018-22, Grzelcyk played his way down the lineup in Boston in recent years as a result of poor play.

The Penguins will be hoping that new assistant coach David Quinn can work some magic on a turnaround for Grzelcyk. The two were together at BU as player and coach. In theory, Grzelcyk will fit coach Mike Sullivan’s style that puts a lot of pressure on defensemen to move the puck. Beyond that, it leaves a lot to be desired about not finding a player in better form or ability to step into the lineup for the Pens next season.

Grzelcyk will essentially replace the departing P.O. Joseph on the left hand side of the Pens’ depth chart, joining Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Graves and John Ludvig on that side of the blueline.

Pittsburgh figures to have about $3 million in cap space remaining for next season, with potential news still to come about a forward signing from free agency like Anthony Beauvillier.