Grzelcyk (Upper Body) Out For Boston Bruins Vs. Ducks

BRIGHTON, Mass – Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk won’t play on Monday night against the Anaheim Ducks after suffering an upper body injury last weekend after taking a hit against the side boards from Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Grzelcyk was knocked out midway through Saturday’s win over Winnipeg after a first period body check against the boards where it appeared the B’s defenseman’s right arm buckled awkwardly and was not present at Monday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena.

There was no penalty on the play.

Matt Grzelcyk is hit into the boards by Dubois and is in some serious pain.

He heads down the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/jAuzcaA1op

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 22, 2022

It sounded like the B’s puck-moving defenseman might be out for at least a few more days, and that should open up a spot for young Urho Vaakanainen to continue flourishing with the chance he’s been given.

“[Grzelcyk] won’t play tonight. He’s in today getting treatment, so we’ll list him as day-to-day for now until we hear anything differently,” said Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy of Grzelcyk, who has done a good job of managing to stay mostly healthy this season to this point. “It’s been a couple of weeks now where he’s played against good players every night and contributed on the penalty kill that we’ve got going well. I think he’s done a really good job for us as what he was drafted to do: defend well with his feet, good stick, has a good hockey IQ and we’re building a first-pass hockey mentality where he’s moving his feet. He’s done well with that.”

It’s terrible timing for Grzelcyk, who has a goal and 10 points in 10 games during the month of January along with a plus-7 rating and was playing his best hockey of the season. In the good news department, Mike Reilly is out of the NHL’s COVID protocol and Anton Blidh returned to practice in a non-contact jersey as the Bruins are getting a little bit healthier all-around.

Here are the Boston Bruins projected line combos and D-pairings based on Monday’s morning skate

Marchand-Bergeron-Smith

Hall-Haula-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Coyle-Steen

Foligno-Nosek-Lazar

Vaakanainen-McAvoy

Reilly-Carlo

Forbort-Clifton

Rask

Ullmark