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Blackhawks Officially Sign Former Penguins Defenseman

The former Pittsburgh Penguins blueliner officially inked a one-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2025-26 season.

Tyler Miller

Apr 11, 2025; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (24) controls the puck during the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
Apr 11, 2025; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (24) controls the puck during the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images
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Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk spent all of last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins and in the offseason, the Penguins decided not to resign him and Grzelcyk was a UFA. Grzelcyk ended up signing a PTO (professional tryout) with the Chicago Blackhawks a few weeks ago, and now earned an NHL contract with them.

It was reported recently that Grzelcyk earned himself a one-year contract with the Blackhawks at an AAV of 1 million dollars. He took quite a pay cut as Grzelcyk earned 2.8 million on a one-year deal with the Penguins last season.

Grzelcyk played all 82 games with the Penguins last season and tallied one goal and 39 assists on the season. He also was a big help on the Penguins second power-play unit and was the quarterback at the point.

He can definitely help the Blackhawks on their blue line and really help their powerplay units. Grzelcyk spent the majority of his career (eight seasons) with the Boston Bruins before spending last season with the Penguins. And now he comes over to another rebuilding team in the Blackhawks that need all the help that they can get.

He is going to join a defensive core that includes a bunch of youngsters like Wyatt Kaiser, Artyom Levshunov, Alex Vlasic, and Sam Rinzel among others. The Blackhawks do not really have a lot of veteran defensemen on their team outside of Grzelcyk.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk
Apr 11, 2025; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (24) controls the puck during the third period against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks used to ice a veteran defenseman in Seth Jones before trading him to the Florida Panthers at the NHL Trade Deadline. Now Grzelcyk becomes the veteran on the blueline for the Blackhawks.

Grzelcyk can be somebody that can really handle top pairing minutes for the Blackhawks. He might not immediately get that as there are a lot of young blueliners on the Blackhawks that deserve ice-time. But having Grzelcyk now should really help the youngsters on the backend and their development.

Grzelcyk may be 31 years old, but he definitely knows how to handle a lot of minutes. Bringing someone like him over to the team should really do a lot for the rebuilding Blackhawks. It remains to be seen what kind of role he will have, but it should be a significant one.

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Tyler Miller
TYLER MILLER

Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.

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