Matt Grzelcyk joins the Chicago Blackhawks on a PTO. Explore his career and the potential impact on the team’s young defensemen this season.
The Chicago Blackhawks signed veteran defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a Professional Try Out (PTO) on Tuesday morning, as reported by Elliotte Friedman. Grzelcyk is a 31-year-old defenseman who scored 40 points with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season. The signing comes just ahead of Blackhawks training camp, which begins this Thursday.
Rumors about general manager Kyle Davidson signing a veteran defenseman have swirled among the beat reporters. The Hawks’ blueline features a plethora of youth, with Connor Murphy the only player who has significant playing experience under his belt. 24-year-old Alex Vlasic is next with 179 games played.
Matt Grzelcyk’s Evolving Hockey card: Numbers in the box (Offense, Defense, and Overall) are percentile rankings among all NHL defenseman across three years.
Who is Matt Grzelcyk?
Grzelcyk played 527 NHL games, spending eight seasons with the Boston Bruins and one in Pittsburgh, where he scored his career high of 40 points. Last season was an anomaly as he scored 11 points the year prior, and his previous high was 26 points. His three-year percentile ranking (the above Evolving Hockey player card) has Grzelcyk ranked pretty low in defense and offense. And let’s remember, this is a PTO.
Should Grzelcyk make the team, he’ll likely be a depth defenseman and nothing more.
My worry?
Well, we all know how NHL coaches favor veteran players. Considering Grzelcyk’s skillset leans offense, it is possible that he looks okay (boy, am I using that term loosely) and ends up eating minutes from our young defensemen. Young defensemen make mistakes. But I’m fine with the current layout of the Blackhawks blueline as is. I also think that Artyom Levshunov shouldn’t spend time in Rockford to start the season—preseason aside.
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It’s only a tiny worry on the scale of things that matter. It’s only a PTO, after all.
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