In what is a very unsurprising piece of news David Pagnotta of the NHL Network is reporting that the Boston Bruins are expected to begin extension talks with pending unrestricted free agent forward Tyler Bertuzzi.
The Bruins have made two trades this afternoon with the big one being the move to shed Taylor Hall and his $6M cap hit to the Chicago Blackhawks. Pagnotta adds that there have been no recent talks between the two sides which indicates that these would be preliminary extension talks.
Bertuzzi is just a few days from hitting the open market and would be one of the most coveted free agents should he reach it. The 28-year-old came over in a trade deadline move from the Detroit Red Wings and fit in with the Bruins nicely posting four goals and 12 assists in 21 games after the trade.
His playoff numbers were even better as he had five goals and five assists in just seven games, guaranteeing himself a nice payday for the foreseeable future.
The one knock on Bertuzzi has been his inability to stay healthy, he has missed time in each of his seven NHL seasons including the pandemic-shorted 2020-21 season where he dressed in just nine games.
Despite this, teams will no doubt line up to try and secure Bertuzzi’s services and it appears the Bruins would like to lock him up before he goes to market.
It’s an interesting strategy for the Bruins if this is in fact the path they choose to go down with trading Hall to sign Bertuzzi. Hall struggled last season, but has just two years left on his deal and was a candidate to bounce back next season.
Bertuzzi on the other hand will likely get a contract that carries him well into his mid-30’s and could become an albatross in just a few seasons. It should be interesting to see if Boston indeed signs Bertuzzi or if they elect to use Hall’s cap savings to fill out the depth in their lineup.
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