The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.
This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.
Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.
The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.
Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.
Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.
His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.
Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.
That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Cap magic by Treliving?
What makes you say this?
Cap Friendly.
They do actually have a ton of cap room. This deal will basically just replace Muzzin on the books when he’s eligible to be put on LTIR
Leafs management just can’t stay out of there own way, This is just another egregious decision by Toronto, I hope they sign Bertuzzi. I won’t end well.
It’s a 1 to r deal. Keep your pants on.
Wilf knows jack all.
Kind of baffling that the Bruins weren’t willing to offer that.
Exactly!!!
They didn’t have the MONEY to offer that. Never mind needing to stiffarm Swayman if they did.
I think the B’s were willing to do this! What I was reading from writers who have their fingers on the B’s pulse that deal wasn’t bought forth by Bertuzzi’s agent. So of course Sweeney would do that deal 10/10 times.
@Nha they had the money, though they’d probably need to trade someone to afford Sway as well. Though I’m not sure what Sway will get.
They really didn’t. As of right now, they have $6 MM in cap space left, and they still need to sign four guys with that, and one of those is Swayman. Even if those three of those slots are filled with league-minimum contracts — and that presumes Swayman isn’t going to go to arbitration, where he would get a good bit more than that — that leaves them with a little over $3 MM cap space left.
Because they’re clearly in tank mode. Which is odd with no first round pick for 2024 either.
Nice!!
Tyler if you win the Cup there, all Canada will forgive you unvaxed stance! LOL
That alone is why I didn’t think he’d ever go to a Canadian Market. Guess $$$ solves all issues!
@Johnny
Why should he be “forgiven” for making a choice about what to put into his body? Nothing to forgive here.
I made the choice not to get it, never got sick, haven’t been ill in ten years. But dozens of people I know got jabbed 4 times, and got COVID multiple times.
Bertuzzi doesn’t care what anyone in socialist Canada thinks about his stance on Covid!!!!!!
Sarcam KRB. The vax was not necessary for any one that was healthy.
@Johnny
Ahhhhh, you got me! After the vicious tongue lashings (sarcasm) given to me yesterday by internet tough guys hiding behind their keyboards, I took you seriously.
Next time, please use a sarc tag :o)
@Gbear
It’s worth remembering that he would have been subject to the same problem had he been crossing the border on a Canadian team from Canada to the USA. Even if he still had negative feelings about it (if there ever were negative feelings), he wouldn’t really be able to apply those feelings wherever he signed considering it would have been a moot point anyways.
@jdgoat – It’s not just the border crossing considerations (though there would be less of them if you played in the Central or Metro divisions), but the general conditions in the state you play and live in. But hopefully the “protocols” of the past few seasons are done with anyway.
“His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.”
Maybe Bert can lead the TLM in points during their next first round loss! :lol: :lol:
Looks like betting on himself has cost him so far
Sweeney and Neely totally clueless
Reality is about hit Boston. Main reason for last year was Krejci @ Bergeron. At least they have the great great talent Jack Edwards. lol They do have bettman loser bonus point record also to cherish. lol
Have you written a single post the last few days that didn’t mention Jack Edwards? This is a pretty weird obsession of yours, dude.
Didn’t the Bruins trade Taylor Hall to sign this guy? And they couldn’t match this deal?
And he couldn’t do better than this? This is Jason Zucker money and Zucker had to settle for peanuts.
Rental player
Waste of money and overpayment since he’s never healthy
Bucking that a real cup run next spring will draw a few players to sign team friendly deals; at minimum Treliving is positioned to trade a Nylander if talks turn sour & not require a equivalent sniper in return (but address various needs). Points for creativity
exactly. the nylander for a dman + pick rumors will pick up now