There’s a vacancy in the Boston Bruins’ defense to this point in the offseason.
But with his new deal the team announced Saturday, blueliner Matt Grzelcyk has been presented with quite the opportunity to fill the void.
Boston signed the 26-year-old Charlestown, Mass., native to a four-year, $14.75 million contract to avoid arbitration with he restricted free agent.
Speaking with the media via Zoom after news was announced, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney shared what is at stake for Grzelyck with Torey Krug now in St. Louis and things still up in the air with captain Zdeno Chara.
“As far as Matt’s ceiling, I think It’s a little bit to be determined, because of the opportunity and who well he plays,” Sweeney said. “Obviously, there is a vacancy – in seeing, allowing his offensive game to continue to grow, potentially and with a little more power play opportunity and again, it’s player driven. I had a lot of conversations with our coaching staff about where they see the player fitting in and how he affects our transition game, his ability to move the puck and our D-zone exits. And the rest is up to Matt to take advantage of a pretty good opportunity for him moving forward.”
Grzelyck’s opportunity is there for the taking. We’ll see if he and fellow defenseman Charlie McAvoy join forces as the first defensive pairing.
