The Penguins added to their blue line on Monday, signing defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year contract worth $2.75 million when the free agency period opened.
Grzelcyk, 30, is a left-shot, two-way, puck-moving defenseman. He's listed at 5 foot 10 and 180 pounds. The Boston native has spent the entirety of his eight-year professional career with his hometown Bruins. He played four years at Boston University from 2012-16, where new Penguins assistant coach David Quinn was his head coach for his final three seasons as a Terrier.
Grzelcyk recorded two goals and nine assists -- both career-lows -- in 63 games with the Bruins last season. He missed time at the start of the season with an upper-body injury and toward the end of the season with a lower-body injury. He was often a healthy scratch in the playoffs this season, only appearing in three games before the Bruins were eliminated in the second round.
In addition to the Quinn connection, Grzelcyk was teammates with Noel Acciari for three seasons with the Bruins, including some time with the Bruins' AHL affiliate in Providence. Penguins minor-league forward Joona Koppanen also spent two seasons with Grzelcyk in the Bruins' organization. Grzelcyk and Matt Nieto were teammates in college at Boston University -- Nieto's last season in school was Grzelcyk's freshman year.
The signing leaves the Penguins with roughly $2.85 million in cap space with this roster:
Forwards (13): Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Reilly Smith, Rickard Rakell, Michael Bunting, Kevin Hayes, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Drew O'Connor, Matt Nieto, Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen
Defensemen (7): Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Ryan Graves, Marcus Pettersson, Matt Grzelcyk, John Ludvig, Jack St. Ivany
Goaltenders (2): Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic
The signing would appear to shut the door on a P.O Joseph return. The Penguins didn't qualify Joseph on Sunday and Joseph became a restricted free agent, but the Penguins continued to speak with Joseph's camp after not qualifying him.
