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Matt Grzelcyk

East Notes: Grzelcyk, Lundell, Islanders

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After being listed as day-to-day yesterday, Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk did not travel with the team on their current road trip and will likely miss all of the three-game swing, head coach Jim Montgomery said today (via Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald). Grzelcyk left Tuesday’s contest against the Wild with an upper-body injury after posting a -2 rating in 13:35 of ice time.

This will be Grzelcyk’s second multi-game absence of the season. The 29-year-old missed ten games in November with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear if the two injuries are related.

The Massachusetts-born defender is amidst the worst season of his NHL career, and it couldn’t come at a tougher time. Regarded as a high-end, complementary top-four defender with exquisite possession numbers since becoming a full-time big-leaguer in 2018, Grzelcyk is now in the final season of a four-year, $14.75MM contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Unfortunately, his game has cratered this year, posting just one goal and a -3 rating in 20 contests. He is averaging 17:04 per game, his lowest usage since averaging 16:44 per game in his rookie season in 2017-18. When healthy, he’s been stapled to a pairing with Charlie McAvoy this season, which has been the Bruins’ highest-event pairing at both ends of the rink. Grzelcyk’s -3 rating and 48% Corsi share at even strength are both career lows.

With Grzelcyk out of the lineup, rookie Mason Lohrei will skate on a pairing with McAvoy in tonight’s game against the Jets. Across multiple stints on the Bruins’ NHL roster this season, the 22-year-old Lohrei has two goals, three assists, and a -4 rating through his first 15 NHL games and is averaging 16:59 per contest.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference as the Christmas weekend draws near:

  • Panthers center Anton Lundell will be activated off injured reserve before tomorrow’s game against the Golden Knights as he “should be” ready to return from an illness, head coach Paul Maurice said Friday (via Panthers senior digital content manager Jameson Olive). Lundell was close to returning for last night’s 4-1 loss to the Blues but could not play. The 22-year-old has missed the last four games with an undisclosed illness that was serious enough to warrant an injured reserve placement, opening up a roster spot. The Panthers have an active roster of 22 players, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to make room for Lundell once the holiday roster freeze lifts on December 28. Through 28 games, the third-year two-way center has two goals and ten assists for 12 points.
  • The Islanders will remain without three regular defensemen in the lineup against the Hurricanes tomorrow as Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock did not travel with the team, Andrew Gross of Newsday reports. Mayfield has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury and remains on injured reserve, although he’s eligible to be activated at any time. It’s unclear whether the veteran shutdown man will be ready to go for the Islanders’ first game after the holiday break, a home tilt against the Penguins next Wednesday. Pelech, 29, is on long-term injured reserve and, while he’s been out long enough to be activated at any time, has yet to resume skating and has no timeline for a return from an upper-body injury that’s kept him out since American Thanksgiving. Pulock is also on injured reserve and last played on December 7 against the Blue Jackets, missing the subsequent seven games with a lower-body injury. He has also yet to resume skating with the team and does not appear close to a return. The Islanders have gone 2-1-2 in their last five games without half of their regular defense corps.

Injury Updates: Rust, Spurgeon, Grzelcyk

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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust has not played since the Penguins’ 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 6th, and in his absence, the Penguins have put together remarkably uneven performances. They’ve collected a few wins but an embarrassing 7-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs showed the cracks in the team’s foundation. Today, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays word from Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, who said Rust skated today on an individual basis, the first time he’s been on the ice since he went down on injured reserve.

Rust’s return to the Penguins lineup would provide the team with a significant boost as it looks to climb in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. Rust has scored 10 goals and 20 points in 22 games this season and scored 20 goals and 46 points last season. Although Valtteri Puustinen has filled in nicely in the team’s top-six with four points in five games, getting Rust back would give the team a needed boost for its playoff chase.

Some more injury updates from around the NHL:

  • The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported that Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon was not present for the team’s morning skate, indicating that he will miss the team’s game tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. Spurgeon is among the Wild’s most important players, but in his absence Brock Faber has emerged as one of the fastest-rising young defensemen in hockey, playing as many as 30 minutes per night.
  • Independent Boston hockey reporter Joe Haggerty relayed word from Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery today, who said that defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is out day-to-day. Grzelcyck has not been ruled out for any of the Bruins’ games during their upcoming three-game road trip, although an absence is certainly possible.

Bruins Activate Matt Grzelcyk From LTIR, Assign Two To AHL

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The Bruins are set to welcome back one of their blueliners as the team announced that Matt Grzelcyk has been activated from LTIR.  To create the cap space necessary to do so, they’ve returned defenseman Mason Lohrei and forward Patrick Brown to AHL Providence.

Grzelcyk has missed the last three-and-a-half weeks with an upper-body injury sustained late last month against Florida.  In order for a player to go on LTIR, they must miss at least 10 games and 24 days.  Both of those were reached yesterday, paving the way for his activation for tonight’s game against the Rangers.

While the 29-year-old has been a capable secondary contributor from the back end, Grzelcyk has been a bit quiet on that front this season, collecting just a single point (a goal) over his first nine appearances.  He’s coming off his fourth-straight 20-point campaign, one that saw him record a career-high 26 points in 2022-23 so it’s fair to say that Boston will be counting on a bit more from him moving forward.

Grzelcyk’s return isn’t the most welcome news for Lohrei who had been acquitting himself nicely with Boston in his first taste of NHL action.  The 22-year-old has played in ten games with the big club so far this season, picking up a goal and three assists along with 18 blocked shots while logging 17:35 per contest.  He also has four assists in seven games with Providence, making for a decent start to his first full professional campaign.

As for Brown, his return to the minors comes as no surprise after he cleared waivers last week for the second time this season.  The 31-year-old is in his first season with the Bruins after inking a two-year deal with an AAV of $800K on the opening day of free agency this summer.  However, he has been limited to eight appearances so far where he has an assist while averaging only 9:03 per night.  When he suits up for Providence, it will be his first taste of AHL action since the 2020-21 campaign when he played in nine games for Vegas’ affiliate.

Injury Notes: Capitals, Flyers, Canadiens, Grzelcyk

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At this morning’s practice before the team’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow night, Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network reports that defenseman Martin Fehervary is doing some light skating for the Washington Capitals, but is not expected back for tomorrow’s game. Ferhervary has been out with a lower-body injury since the team’s win against the New Jersey Devils last week.

El-Bashir also notes that even though he has not missed a game due to the illness, Evgeny Kuznetsov will still be missing practice due to the ailment. Lastly, as the last report from practice, goaltender Darcy Kuemper appeared ’fine’ at practice after leaving Wednesday’s practice with an apparent injury.

After an incredibly slow start through the team’s first five games of the regular season, the Capitals have turned things around dramatically, producing a 7-1-1 record since that time, moving up to second place in the Metropolitan Division. If the team hopes to continue the hot streak, they will need to sustain relative health through the end of the calendar year.

Other notes:

  • Missing almost a month of action, Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports that defenseman Marc Staal of the Philadelphia Flyers is out of the non-contact jersey at practice, indicating he could be close to returning. Dealing with a rib injury from the team’s October 19th game against the Edmonton Oilers, Staal has only managed four games this year, failing to produce a point.
  • Leaving last night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period, the Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Arber Xhekaj is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Xhekaj notably missed the last month and a half of the 2022-23 regular season due to a shoulder injury, and has scored one goal and two assists in 17 games upon his return.
  • Eligible to return next Saturday against the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins’ defenseman, Matt Grzelcyk is still on the LTIR, rehabbing his way back from an upper-body injury sustained in late October. However, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald indicates the rehab process is going well, as Grzelcyk is back practicing with the team today.

Afternoon Notes: Mantha, Grzelcyk, Avalanche

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NHL.com writer Tom Gulitti tweeted today that Washington Capitals forward Anthony Mantha suffered a ruptured ear drum when an Evgeny Kuznetsov shot bounced off a defender’s stick and hit Mantha in the ear. The injury happened November 8th in a game against the Florida Panthers and led to the 29-year-old being placed on the injured reserve.

Mantha reportedly lost hearing in that ear for six days and has only now started to get it back. He reported feeling dizziness initially, but according to Tarik El-Bashir, he should be well enough to play on Saturday when he is eligible to come off the IR.

Mantha has three goals and an assist in ten games this season with the Capitals and has been a healthy scratch at times as he hasn’t been able to find his game in Washington. He had two of his goals in the Panthers game when he suffered the injury but was knocked out of the game before he could complete the hat trick.

In other notes:

  • Boston Globe writer Conor Ryan is reporting that Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told the media today that he expects defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to be cleared to return to the Bruins lineup by this Saturday. The 29-year-old has been out of the lineup since October 30th when he suffered an upper-body injury in an overtime win against the Florida Panthers. Grzelcyk played just 3:29 in that game and left during the third period of the win. The native of Charlestown, Massachusetts has dressed in nine games this season and has a single assist but has looked off his game when in the lineup. His average ice time is down, as are many of his defensive numbers which could lead one to speculate if he was dealing with a nagging injury prior to sitting out these past few weeks.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they’ve essentially reversed yesterday’s roster moves. The Avalanche sent Sam Malinski and Caleb Jones to the Colorado Eagles yesterday and today decided to recall both players. No word yet on why Colorado opted to change course, but both players are back on the Avalanche’s NHL roster as of this morning. Jones has an assist in his one NHL game this year while Malinski is pointless in one game.

Boston Bruins Place Matt Grzelcyk On Long-Term Injured Reserve, Recall Three

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The Boston Bruins have placed defenseman Matt Grzelcyk on long-term injured reserve, according to a team announcement. As a result, Grzelcyk will not be eligible to play until late November.

In addition to placing Grzelcyk on LTIR, the team has also placed forward Jakub Lauko on traditional injured reserve, and recalled defensemen Mason Lohrei, Ian Mitchell, and Parker Wotherspoon from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.

Grzelcyk, 29, lands on LTIR after leaving the Bruins’ October 30th contest with an upper-body injury. Grzelcyk has established himself as a top-four defenseman in Boston, having scored at least 20 points in four consecutive seasons and averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per game in his NHL career.

He’s gotten off to a slow start this season, but thanks to his $3.687MM cap hit his LTIR placement provides the Bruins with the financial headroom to make this trio of recalls.

The most noable name in the list of players called up is Lohrei, who ranks among the top prospects in a thin Bruins prospect system. Set to turn 23 in January, the 2020 second-round pick is a rangy, mobile blueliner who scored well across his two-year collegiate career with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

So far, Lohrei has just 15 professional games on his resume. But with this recall, he is now positioned to potentially make his NHL debut on a Bruins’ roster that, before these recalls, boasted just four defensemen eligible to play.

As for Mitchell and Wotherspoon, neither holds the kind of upside or top prospect intrigue that Lohrei has. What they do have that Lohrei doesn’t, though, is significant experience playing pro hockey and some NHL experience. Mitchell, 24, has played 84 career NHL games while Wotherspoon has 12 NHL games and nearly 300 in the AHL.

As a right-shot blueliner, Mitchell is the likeliest candidate to immediately land in the NHL lineup while head coach Jim Montgomery will have to choose between Wotherspoon and Lohrei as to which left-shot defensemen he’ll dress for games.

That being said, the left-shot blueliners may stand a stronger chance at lasting on the NHL roster beyond the next four games. Once Charlie McAvoy’s suspension ends, a major void on the right side of the Bruins’ defense gets filled.

Meanwhile, Grzelcyk is set for a more extended absence, meaning Lohrei or Wotherspoon could extend their stay on the NHL roster beyond Mitchell, assuming they can handle the NHL minutes thrown their way.

Atlantic Notes: Bennett, Grzelcyk, Finley

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David Dwork of The Hockey News is reporting that Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers has left tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins with what appears to be a left leg injury. Bennett was returning to the Panthers after missing the first seven games with a lower-body injury.

The 27-year-old was battling for position with Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm when Lindholm appeared to put his skate on the back of Bennett’s left leg. Lindholm’s weight then appeared to crash down on Bennett’s ankle. Bennett went down grabbing at his lower leg, as he rolled on the ice in pain. The Panthers helped Bennett off the ice as he put no weight on his left leg before limping to the team’s dressing room.

In other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Boston Bruins have announced that defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has left tonight’s game and will not return after sustaining an upper-body injury. Not much is known currently about the injury, but Grzelcyk didn’t play after the halfway mark of the first period in the Bruins game against the Florida Panthers. The 29-year-old has had a bit of a slow start to his eighth season with the Bruins as he has just a single goal in nine games thus far.
  • CapFriendly is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have activated forward Jack Finley off the season-opening injury reserve and assigned him to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The 21-year-old Finley scored 12 goals and had 9 assists in his rookie season in the AHL last year as he dressed in 67 games for the Crunch. Finley could make an impact in the NHL in the coming seasons as it is hard to ignore his ability to get around the ice with his 6’6” 223-pound frame. For now, he will remain a depth option in the AHL as he attempts to develop the offensive side of his game.

Snapshots: Shaw, Grzelcyk, Penguins

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10/3/2023 – The Minnesota Wild have signed Mason Shaw to a one-year, one-way, AHL contract. Shaw will continue rehabbing his torn ACL with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Minnesota will need to send Shaw through waivers if they want to turn this into an NHL contract.

10/3/2023 – The Athletic’s Michael Russo recently spoke to the likelihood that the Minnesota Wild re-sign Mason Shaw when the forward is healthy. Russo shares that Shaw seems to still be a member of the Wild in every way except a contract. This includes skating at the team’s practice rink and wearing Wild gear. Head coach Dean Evason seemed to support that sentiment, telling Russo, “[Shaw]’s a big part of our group. He’s a big part of our grit level, our determination level, our drive. We’re hoping this continues to progress the right way.”

Mason Shaw is continuing to rehab a torn ACL suffered late into the 2022-23 season. He’s now in month six of the six-month recovery window he was given at the time of the injury and has resumed skating. But despite making progress, Russo doesn’t shed light on when Shaw may return to routine activities. The 24-year-old forward played his rookie NHL season last year, appearing in 59 games and scoring 17 points. He’s never played outside of the Wild organization and it seems, when he’s healthy again, that pattern will continue.

More notes from around the league:

  • An NHL scout shared with Boston Hockey Now’s Jimmy Murphy that teams are expressing interest in Bruins defender Matt Grzelcyk. This interest picks up in the midst of strong camps from young Boston prospects, including defender Mason Lohrei. Murphy’s source shares that the Chicago Blackhawks may be particularly interested in Grzelyck, saying, “Grzelcyk is better than any left-shot D they have now, and they have cap space. He could be great on their powerplay.”
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Ty Smith, Avery Hayes, and Rem Pitlick to their training camp roster, after assigning all three to the minors just recently. It’s likely this move is just to get the trio more preseason game action but it’s notable, as Ty Smith’s assignment to the minors elicited a strong reaction from fans and onlookers. If this move is temporary, and how Smith will be utilized moving forward, will be items to watch as the Penguins enter the regular season.

Examining A Pivotal Offseason For The Boston Bruins

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Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub wrote a piece today going over his thoughts on the offseason that was for the Boston Bruins. Anderson writes that while the offseason losses were a challenge for the team, he believes the club can still contend for a division title, and at the very least make the playoffs in the Atlantic Division.

While Anderson offers up many reasons for optimism, he does believe that if the Bruins were to falter, they should look to move on from the eight unrestricted free agents that the Bruins will be dressing on opening night and try to acquire assets for them rather than throwing assets after band-aid solutions. Boston does have an extensive list of unrestricted free agents at the end of this year including Jake DeBrusk, James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, A.J. Greer, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Jakub Zboril. Moving on from these players would help facilitate a re-tool should the Bruins opt to go down that path.

There is a belief with Anderson and others that the Bruins could be buyers in the summer of 2024 when the cap goes up and the bonuses come off Boston’s cap. An added bonus to selling at the deadline would be that any assets acquired at the deadline could help the team make moves next summer when they have cap space to play with. Now, while it seems silly to be looking at trade deadline moves when the season hasn’t even started, it is an interesting idea for the Bruins for the reasons mentioned above.

One final note, and this could be a big one, is that Boston’s first-round pick this season was dealt in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade. The pick is top-10 protected and if Boston were to fall down the standings, they could grab a top-10 pick this year in a re-tooling year and give Detroit their 2025 pick when they presumably have re-stocked the NHL roster. The risk there of course is that they falter again in 2025 and hand the Red Wings a top-10 pick, but that seems unlikely given that the team will still have some solid pieces in place and possibly some reinforcements to join them.

Snapshots: World Championship, Grzelcyk, Ceci

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The medal games have been set at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.  After Latvia and Germany were able to pull off significant upsets to get to the semi-finals, one of them was able to do so again as the Germans scored late in the third to tie it at three send their game against Team USA to overtime, paving the way for former Pittsburgh prospect Frederik Tiffels to score the winner late in the extra session.  Meanwhile, in the first semi-final, the presumptive second-overall pick next month, Adam Fantilli, picked up the winner in the third period as Canada doubled up the Latvians 4-2.  Latvia and the US will face off for Bronze while Germany and Canada will battle for Gold with both games slated for Sunday.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic examines (subscription link) some potential trade options for the Bruins this summer, including defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The 29-year-old has been a capable secondary producer offensively for the past several seasons, including notching a career-high 26 points in 75 games in 2022-23.  However, his $3.6875MM AAV is a bit on the high side relative to his ice time which is that of a player on the third pairing and with the team facing quite a cap crunch this summer, Grzelcyk is a luxury they might not be able to afford.  He, along with fellow left-shot defenders Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly, are all a year away from unrestricted free agency and there’s a good chance one of them, if not more, will be on the move in the coming months.
  • While the Oilers will need to free up some cap space to re-sign Evan Bouchard and round out their roster this summer, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal argues that one of those money-saving moves shouldn’t involve moving defenseman Cody Ceci. The 29-year-old still has two years left on a contract that carries a $3.25MM price tag and saw his output dip from 28 to 15 points this season while seeing his playing time go down slightly as well.  However, the fact that he can still handle second-pairing minutes remains valuable on a team that has some unproven defenders and others that are best served with limited ice time so if they can find a way to cut costs elsewhere, that might be a better way for them to go.

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