Little did anyone know that when the Pittsburgh Penguins signed free agent defenseman Matt Grzelcyk in the summer of 2024, the 31-year-old would go on to have a career season with his new team, finishing the campaign with 40 points.
During his eight seasons with his hometown Boston Bruins, Grzelyck never scored more than 26 points, setting a career-high in 2022-23. Before moving to Pittsburgh, he was a four-time 20-point player despite never playing a full 82-game schedule.
With the Penguins, Grzelyck was an assist machine, picking up 39 helpers, ranking behind Sidney Crosby (58) and Erik Karlsson (42). Moreover, he finished sixth in team scoring, following Crosby (91), Rickard Rakell (70), Bryan Rust (65), Karlsson (53), and Evgeni Malkin (50).
Ultimately, Grzelyck outscored long-time defenseman Kris Letang by ten points and was only one of two players, besides Karlsson, to play all 82 games.
Meanwhile, he was tied with Crosby for most assists on the power-play, picking up 15 on special teams.
However, those statistics only begin to tell the story of how special Grzelcyk's season was. In his first season with the Penguins, he became only the 20th defenseman to record 40 points in a season, joining a list featuring Hall of Famers and Norris Trophy winners.
- Kris Letang (11)
- Paul Coffey (5)
- Sergei Gonchar (4)
- Randy Carlyle (4)
- Ron Stackhouse (4)
- Larry Murphy (3)
- Moe Mantha (3)
- Erik Karlsson (2)
- Ryan Whitney (2)
- Dick Tärnström (2)
- Kevin Hatcher (2)
- Zarley Zalapski (2)
- Dough Bodger (2)
- Matt Grzelcyk (1)
- Justin Schultz (1)
- Matt Niskanen (1)
- Sergei Zubov (1)
- Paul Baxter (1)
- Mario Faubert (1)
- Tom Edur (1)
Additionally, Grzelcyk is one of only 12 skaters to achieve the feat in their first season with the Penguins. He follows in the footsteps of Coffey, Gonchar, Carlyle, Mantha, Karlsson, Tärnström, Hatcher, Zubov, and Edur.
Technically, Murphy and Schultz scored 40 points in their first full season in Pittsburgh, having played part of the previous campaign after a trade.
Grzelcyk is now a free agent, coming off a one-year deal worth $2.75 million signed on July 1, 2024. It turned out to be a bargain deal considering he made $3.687 million annually with the Bruins.
As the 26th-highest scorer (tied) among defensemen in the NHL during the 2024-25 season, Grzelyck won't be a free agent for long when the opening bell rings on July 1.
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