3 Potential Landing Spots For Matt Grzelcyk

Matt Grzelcyk is the top free agent defenseman left unsigned and it is a wonder how he made it four days without either choosing a team or someone giving him a good enough offer to accept. The 31-year-old left-shot d-man played the most per game in his career at 20:37 and scored a goal and recorded 40 points last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He plays slightly physical and blocked over 100 shots while getting power play and penalty kill time. He might be waiting for more money, but there is no reason why he shouldn't be offered a good deal this offseason. Here are three teams he could end up with.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild could use an upgrade on defense, especially if Jonas Brodin is going to miss the start of the season like he is expected to. With one more addition on the back-end, the team will have seven capable defenders and won't be left shorthanded if there is an injury or two. Without Brodin, the left side of the Wild's defense has Jake Middleton, Zeev Buium who hasn't played a regular season game in the NHL, and either David Jiricek or Zach Bogosian on their wrong side. Grzelcyk can eat minutes and feed the puck to the forwards who could use more puck-moving defensemen to get them the puck.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Maybe it was a mutual parting of ways or maybe Grzelcyk wanted to test free agency, but I think he would still have a good place in the top-4 for the Pittsburgh Penguins who haven't given up hope of winning just yet. The left side of the ice includes Ryan Graves (14:49 ATOI), Ryan Shea (16:44), Parker Wotherspoon (18:02), and Alexander Alexeyev (16:04). That isn't a recipe for success when none of the options on one side of the ice can eat much ice time. Graves should be able to step up, but another d-man should be mixed in for next season. The Penguins have more than enough cap space with $16 million in projected cap for 2025-26.

Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets have $20 million in projected cap space and still have to sign Gabriel Vilardi, Morgan Barron, and Dylan Samberg. There will be plenty of space to sign everyone and have room left over after for another player and mid-season money. The only upgrades the team made was Jonathan Toews, Tanner Pearson, Gustav Nyquist, and Cole Koepke, so nothing on the back-end. If the Jets want to at least get back to where they were last season, they need to add some more. I don't trust either Logan Stanley or Hayden Fleury as the third pairing d-man and Grzelcyk would be a major upgrade to either of them. That would solidify the three pairings and give them a real chance every minute of the games.