The Buffalo Sabres announced today that they’ve signed veteran defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year deal worth $850k. The 32-year-old veteran played with the Chicago Blackhawks last season. He’s an undersized left-shot defenseman at 5’10”.

Jarmo Kekalainen rightfully wanted to add insurance to his blue line, given the few injuries that have come up in camp and Louis Crevier coming off offseason shoulder surgery.

Need for Depth

Mattias Samuelsson is the biggest injury concern the Sabres face on defense. From what I’ve been told, the hope is Samuelsson can return in around three weeks. As Lindy Ruff said the other day, it’s one of those cases where they have to wait to see how it heals and how he feels. It’ll also come down to how quickly he can get back to feeling ready to play a full game since he’ll be off the ice for a few weeks. Best case is a few weeks, but it could push beyond that.

Ruff told the media today after practice that he believes Olen Zellweger will be ready for opening night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Concussions can change things quickly, of course, but it’s good to hear there’s confidence in his recovery so far.

I also think the reason that Kekalainen wanted to add was the performance they’ve seen from Dennis Gilbert in the preseason. When he was signed in the offseason, the assumption was he would be their de facto eighth defenseman and provide veteran experience in the AHL.

Gilbert has struggled in his two games. I wouldn’t be shocked if they would play Ryan Johnson over Gilbert at this point if it came down to that. With Grzelcyk now in the mix, he’ll likely slot into that eighth defenseman on the roster.

Experience with Crevier

Grzelcyk is your standard third-pair ceiling defenseman. He won’t significantly impact the team offensively. The American-born defender had no goals and 12 assists in 69 games for the Blackhawks last season.

Defensively, he’s fine from a positional standpoint. He knows where he has to be, and you don’t often see him out of position when you watch him play. He sometimes gets into trouble with his size around the net and on the walls.

Grzelcyk is an underrated exit defender, which is a good fit for the Sabres. As mentioned many times, this system needs defensemen who can move the puck and be involved in transition. In All Three Zones tracking data, the exit numbers are excellent.

Another interesting aspect of this signing is that Grzelcyk has history playing with Crevier on the Blackhawks last season. In fact, the numbers in 95 minutes were good when they were on the ice together as a pair.

Hockey Stats’ model had them at a 74% goal differential and 51% expected goal share at 5-on-5. They had the best goal differential and second-best expected goal share of any Blackhawks pair to play at least 90 minutes together.

It’s a small sample, but they can go back to it during the season if needed. Nothing wrong with having new players on the roster who are familiar with being on the ice together from a previous team.

If the Sabres get fully healthy, it’ll be interesting to see how they handle Grzelcyk. Carrying three goalies eliminates the possibility of carrying beyond one extra forward and defenseman. There’s a possibility he could be claimed on waivers if they go that path, as one would expect. However, he remained unsigned a week away from the season starting.

If he makes it to the AHL, that would be some nice additional veteran depth for that group.

Photo Credit: Jason Mowry/Getty Images

Data via: Hockey Stats and All Three Zones