The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free-agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5M AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725M, the maximum he is 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 contracts.
This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625M on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.
28-year-old winger Bertuzzi has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins while excelling over 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 on Saturday.
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, who is making 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, he may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he might have expected entering the market.
Now, he will be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and is in a situation where he could post the best season of his career.
That would 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 who could fill the void left by Bunting.
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