Matt Grzelcyk enjoys bizarre homecoming by joining Penguins.

For 30 year old National Hockey League defenseman Matt Grzelcyk it was a dream to be drafted by the Boston Bruins. The native of Charlestown, Massachusetts would get to play the first 445 regular season games and 66 playoff games of his NHL career in his home state as a member of the Bruins, a journey though that sadly one day had to come to an end.

That day for Grzelcyk was on July 1st of this year when he became an unrestricted free agent, eventually agreeing to a one year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins that carries an average annual value and salary cap hit of $2.75 million next season.

Although it marked the end of Grzelcyk's time playing for a team in his home state, he will bizarrely get to enjoy something of a strange NHL homecoming when he gets to play all of his home games at PPG Paints Arena this coming season. You see in spite of playing his entire career as a member of the Boston Bruins up until this point, Grzelcyk would experience a number of his major career milestones on the ice in front of fans in Pittsburgh.

Grzelcyk would kick off his career in the NHL inside of PPG Paints Arena, the location of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft where he would be selected in the third round (85th overall) by the Boston Bruins. It is no surprise that any player drafted into the NHL would have fond memories of that day, but Grzelcyk's story is especially memorable given that he nearly didn't make it to the building that day.

Grzelcyk would of course go on to play hundreds of NHL games for the Boston Bruins following his selection in 2012, but his very first game in the NHL would come on the ice at PPG Paints Arena against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As if that wasn't already enough to give the building a special meaning in Grzelcyk's mind, his first career goal in the NHL would also come against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a moment that Grzelcyk would get to share with his father, who began working at the Boston Garden all the way back in 1967 and has remained with the organization since that time, and that no doubt made it all that much more special for the young defenseman.

The veteran NHL defenseman admits that he has been reflecting on those early moments in his career in the lead up to his first season outside of Boston, with Grzelcyk indicating that he may very well have been destined to become a Pittsburgh Penguin one day.

"I've been thinking about that a lot," said Grzelcyk as per Michelle Crechiolo of Pens Inside Scoop. "It’s a full-circle moment. Feels like something that was meant to be."