Bruins activate key defenseman from injured reserve

The Bruins are set to welcome back one of their blueliners as the team announced that Matt Grzelcyk has been activated from LTIR.  To create the cap space necessary to do so, they’ve returned defenseman Mason Lohrei and forward Patrick Brown to AHL Providence.

Grzelcyk has missed the last three-and-a-half weeks with an upper-body injury sustained late last month against Florida.  In order for a player to go on LTIR, they must miss at least 10 games and 24 days.  Both of those were reached yesterday, paving the way for his activation for tonight’s game against the Rangers.

While the 29-year-old has been a capable secondary contributor from the back end, Grzelcyk has been a bit quiet on that front this season, collecting just a single point (a goal) over his first nine appearances.  He’s coming off his fourth-straight 20-point campaign, one that saw him record a career-high 26 points in 2022-23 so it’s fair to say that Boston will be counting on a bit more from him moving forward.

Grzelcyk’s return isn’t the most welcome news for Lohrei who had been acquitting himself nicely with Boston in his first taste of NHL action.  The 22-year-old has played in ten games with the big club so far this season, picking up a goal and three assists along with 18 blocked shots while logging 17:35 per contest.  He also has four assists in seven games with Providence, making for a decent start to his first full professional campaign.

As for Brown, his return to the minors comes as no surprise after he cleared waivers last week for the second time this season.  The 31-year-old is in his first season with the Bruins after inking a two-year deal with an AAV of $800K on the opening day of free agency this summer.  However, he has been limited to eight appearances so far where he has an assist while averaging only 9:03 per night.  When he suits up for Providence, it will be his first taste of AHL action since the 2020-21 campaign when he played in nine games for Vegas’ affiliate.