The Buffalo Sabres added a veteran puck-mover on Friday, signing Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year deal worth an AAV of $850,000.
It’s the kind of move that carries very little downside. Buffalo has been working through injury issues in camp, with updates on defensemen Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger, and Grzelcyk gives the club another option on the blue line as the season nears. The injuries to Samuelsson and Zellweger are not expected to be long-term, but the Sabres still chose to add depth now rather than wait.
Grzelcyk arrives after a couple of seasons split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. His best offensive stretch came in 2024-25 with Pittsburgh, when he played all 82 games and set career highs with 39 assists, 15 power-play assists and 20:37 of ice time per night. He also scored one goal that season.
He had gone unsigned last offseason before landing a PTO with Chicago and turning that into a contract. With the Blackhawks, Grzelcyk appeared in 69 games and finished with 12 assists while averaging just under 17 minutes per game.
The 32-year-old, a former Boston University standout and former Boston Bruins defenseman, has played in 596 NHL games. Over that span, he has 26 goals and 161 assists while averaging a little more than 18 minutes of ice time a night.
Buffalo had also been considering other options, including a possible return to Logan Stanley, whom the team acquired last season from the Winnipeg Jets. Instead, the Sabres went with Grzelcyk, a smaller defenseman whose offensive game gives him a different look than the rest of the group.
If the injury situation doesn’t clear up quickly, Grzelcyk could be in the lineup when Buffalo opens the season next week.
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