BRIGHTON, Mass. — Matt Grzelcyk is from Charlestown. He attended Belmont Hill for three years. He played at Boston University for four seasons. Boston College was his only other choice. The 2012 third-round pick has been a Boston Bruin for all of his 427 career NHL games.
Like most native Bostonians, he has never taken a duck boat tour. As a boy, the only place Grzelcyk and his family went on vacation was Cape Cod.
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“We went to Montreal for a tournament,” said Grzelcyk. “But I don’t know if that counts.”
The only time Grzelcyk has ever been away from Boston was the two years he spent at the National Team Development Program. It wasn’t easy for the 16-year-old.
“Really hard. I would say until Thanksgiving,” Grzelcyk recalled of being homesick in Ann Arbor, Mich. “That was the first time we had a few days to come home. I was missing it every single day.”
All of it could come to an end soon. Grzelcyk’s four-year, $14.75 million contract is expiring. He has not discussed an extension.
So you can see why, when the 30-year-old thinks about a future elsewhere, the concept does not feel agreeable.
“Every year, no matter what situation you’re in — unless you have a no-movement clause or anything in your contract — it does give you a little bit of anxiety,” Grzelcyk said of the trade deadline. “I love being here. I love being a Bruin. You never want that to end. I try not to dwell on it too much for sure. Just worry about your play. But I’d be lying if I said those thoughts don’t creep in.”
UFA-to-be life
The trade deadline is on March 8. Pending unrestricted free agents are not comfortable at this time. Grzelcyk is one of seven on the Bruins roster, along with Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, Danton Heinen, Anthony Richard, Kevin Shattenkirk and James van Riemsdyk.
“Of course you always have that in the back of your mind,” said DeBrusk, who requested a trade in 2021-22 that he since rescinded, about deadline anxiety. “Obviously two years ago, it was a little more intense on that side of things. But I think ever since I’ve been here, I’ve been worried.”
According to DeBrusk, there has been no recent progress toward an agreement. Grzelcyk, meanwhile, has not had any in-season extension talks. General manager Don Sweeney and Peter Fish, Grzelcyk’s agent, agreed to discuss the matter upon the season’s conclusion.
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It’s usually the case that pending UFAs on non-playoff teams are the ones worrying about being moved. The Bruins are ramping up for another postseason run. They would prefer to add UFAs-to-be, like they did last season with Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi.
But as part of the Orlov and Hathaway acquisition, Sweeney traded Craig Smith and his expiring contract to the Washington Capitals. Smith had four goals and six assists in 42 games for the Bruins at the time of the trade.
The difference between Smith and Grzelcyk is that the latter is playing a featured role. Grzelcyk is occupying his usual top-pairing position next to Charlie McAvoy.
That said, this has not been the contract year Grzelcyk expected. He has been injured three times, the latest being when he was chopped to the ice by Ryan McLeod on Feb. 21. Grzelcyk missed the next game.
The injuries may explain the trough in his performance. For the first time in his career, the shot-suppression specialist is under water. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins have a 45.98 shots-for share at five-on-five when Grzelcyk is on the ice. It is the only time Grzelcyk has been under 50 percent.
The trend has extended to Grzelcyk’s work with McAvoy. As a pair, they have a 48.16 SF%. They were at 54.77 SF% last year. In 2021-22, they were 65.29 SF%, best in the league among pairs with 400-plus shared minutes.
They are not ideal statistics for a five-on-five specialist. Grzelcyk is averaging 0:54 of short-handed ice time per game, No. 6 among team defensemen. He’s averaging just eight seconds of power-play work per game, the lowest of his career.
One of the reasons the Bruins traded for Orlov last year was to thicken the left side of the defense in the playoffs. Grzelcyk was a healthy scratch in three of the Round 1 games against the Florida Panthers. Whether a similar postseason fate is in his cards is unknown.
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If he’s still here.
Staying or going?
President Cam Neely identified a defenseman as part of his deadline wish list. Trading Grzelcyk, then, would compromise a unit that already needs reinforcement.
Hampus Lindholm will miss his fifth straight game on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights because of an undisclosed injury. Lindholm has resumed skating. He walked through the Warrior Ice Arena dressing room on Wednesday with a bandaged right knee.
Derek Forbort, scratched against the Seattle Kraken on Monday for missing a team meeting, has battled a groin injury at times this year. Mason Lohrei is playing like a typical rookie defenseman: stout in some games, frenzied in others. Parker Wotherspoon has been a consistent stay-at-home defender, but the Bruins like him as the sixth or seventh defenseman.
But while trading Grzelcyk may be unlikely, saying goodbye to the lifelong Bruin at year’s end is a possibility. Lohrei could be a long-term second-pair defenseman behind Lindholm. The Bruins would have their hands raised for Noah Hanifin, either via trade or free agency. Wotherspoon, 26, will be a restricted free agent.
Grzelcyk, then, could be like ex-teammate Torey Krug. When Krug, 29 at the time, became a free agent at the end of his deal, the Bruins let him walk.
Grzlecyk knows what’s going on. People from Charlestown are savvy about hockey.
“They value hard work,” Grzelcyk said of his fellow Townies. “They see the game for what it is. You could have a couple points, but you didn’t play well. People will point that out to you. Or the opposite. You don’t have a couple points for a while, but you’re working hard. They have an appreciation for the game.”
Grzelcyk knows, then, that his future in Boston is far from guaranteed.
“My mindset is just to play these 20 games out as best as I can and go into the playoffs hopefully playing some good hockey,” Grzelcyk said. “Then things will play out however they play out. It’s kind of out of my control at that point. Of course this is where I want to be. I love being a Bruin. It’s been a dream come true for sure. Don’t ever want that to end. But yeah, you know the reality of some situations. It’s kind of out of my control. The only thing I can control is my effort and my play on the ice. That’s all I’m trying to focus on.”
(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)
