Arseny Gritsyuk quickly became a fan favorite for the New Jersey Devils last season. He was as transparent as we’ve ever seen any rookie. Seeing how transparent an overseas rookie was, especially one who was as good as Gritsyuk with as much hype, is amazing.
He has always been pretty open about his thoughts and feelings. Last offseason, when discussing his expectations for the NHL, he made it pretty clear he didn’t want to spend much time in the AHL. He even revealed a KHL clause in his contract that had us all unnecessarily worried last offseason.
Gritsyuk didn’t need any of that. From the start of training camp, it was clear he’s an NHL player. He led all Devils players with four points in five preseason games. Sheldon Keefe was testing him in very different places in the lineup. He was a skilled forward who had to prove he could play defense.
Interestingly, Gritsyuk was better on defense than anything else, and it shows that he can be a really good player moving forward. That’s why one of Sunny Mehta’s biggest moves this offseason was re-signing Gritsyuk to a deal that pays him $3.25 million per season.
It makes it better that Gritsyuk is telling his story on the social media platform Telegram. While this isn’t as popular as Twitter or Facebook in the U.S., Gritsyuk had fans downloading it at a rapid pace.
The updates were fun and nothing threatening, but he was giving us access to the players and the locker room that is usually restricted to the Devils' social media team. Again, it was nothing that was getting anyone in trouble, but it felt unfiltered.
Then, the posts started to become fewer and further between. It sounds like it was suggested that the updates stop when the Devils started losing.
We're learning why Arseny Gritsyuk wasn't as transparent as the season continued
Arseny Gritsyuk explained why he stopped making vlogs during the season. Same thing happened with Askarov. pic.twitter.com/R7jQIzGduX
— Uggg (@Uggg_uggg) August 31, 2026
Gritsyuk said that when the team went into a slump, it was “gently hinted” (translated from Russian) that he should “stop filming the team’s life.” He didn’t reveal who was the one who hinted at it, but he did reveal that this is what caused a lack of updates.
However, he did say he is considering doing more updates on his Telegram this season, and he has been posting over the summer. Let’s hope we get more Gritsyuk updates throughout the season because they were really fun!
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