The Boston Bruins have decisions to make on their expiring contracts before free agency opens on July 1. Based on factors such as roster needs and players' talent, we are ranking the 10 most important free agents and predicting their future in Boston.
With just under one month remaining until free agency opens, we will be going over the top 10 free agents for the Boston Bruins.
These are all “in-house” options that they will have to decide between keeping or letting go. This is not covering potential free agent targets on other teams.
Additionally, the ranking has less to do with the talent or production of the player, but rather the importance of the decision. Obviously each player’s ability factors into that determination, but based on the make-up of the roster and the team’s most-pressing needs, a ‘better’ player may not be as big a priority as a player in another position.
You can find the rest of the list so far below:
Today we look at No. 8:
8. Matt Grzelcyk, Defense
Age: 30
2023-24 stats: 63 GP, 2G-9A-11P
Previous contract: 4 years, $14.75 million
Total Years with Bruins: 8*
*= Played two games in 2016-17, followed by seven full seasons
One could argue Grzelcyk should be as low as 10 on this list. By the end of the postseason, he was unofficially the ninth defenseman on the depth chart. But given his history with the team, and the larger role he held compared to either of the other defensemen on the list so far, he falls in at 8.
After starting the past several seasons as Charlie McAvoy’s running mate on the top pair, Grzelcyk once again fell out of the rotation come the postseason. In the past three years, Boston has played 27 playoff games; Grzelcyk played in just 12 of those and failed to record a point in any.
He’s not relied on to be a point-scorer, but it didn’t help matters with the rest of his play falling short of what the Bruins needed. Being a fixture during the regular season is one thing, but to be cast aside when it matters most – multiple years in a row – shows where he stands in the eyes of the organization and what that likely means for his future.
Prediction: He walks
As is the case with the previous two names on the list, the combination of Mason Lohrei and Parker Wotherspoon emerging from the AHL as well as the acquisition of Andrew Peeke created less of a need for Grzelcyk and the other incumbents.
The Bruins certainly wouldn’t bring Grzelcyk back at his recent $3.6875 million AAV. It’s possible Grzelcyk, who has spent his entire life in Boston, could be incentivized to take a lower paycheck and stay in the only place he’s known, but the likelier outcome is another team with less competition in their back end will offer him more money and a bigger role than the Bruins can.
“I think it’s no secret that I love being here, I want to be here, so we’ll have those conversations,” Grzelcyk said during end-of-season media availability. “But it’s the only place I’ve known and loved so far, so I haven’t given it too much thought about the possibility of playing somewhere else.”
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