After what was a disappointing day one in free agency for the Toronto Maple Leafs under new GM Brad Treliving, they make a great signing on day two as the club inks UFA Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5M contract which features a full NMC and a maximum signing bonus of $4.725M.
At around 4:45 pm, Elliotte Friedman tweeted that he was hearing both sides were working out a one-year deal.
Not even 10 minutes later, the Toronto Maple Leafs Twitter account confirmed it and tweeted that the club had signed Bertuzzi to a one-year deal.
Bertuzzi, 28, spent the 2022-23 season split between two teams in Toronto’s division, the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins.
He was only able to get into 50 games during the season, but still managed to put up 30 points, eight of them being goals, while also playing his physical brand of hockey along with being an absolute pest out there on the ice against his opponents.
The Sudbury native does have a history of injuries, but if he can get back to his 2021-22 form or at least close to it when he scored 30 goals and 62 points with the Red Wings, this will be a slam-dunk signing for the Maple Leafs, even if it’s just for one year.
It has felt like Bertuzzi was rumoured to join Toronto either through trade or free agency for a while now. Toronto’s former GM, Kyle Dubas, tried to acquire the winger back in the OHL but didn’t succeed.
A couple of trade deadlines ago, it was speculated that Dubas tried to acquire him, but nothing materialized and he stayed with the Red Wings.
Although it’s not a multi-year contract for Bertuzzi in Toronto, it’s great to see the Maple Leafs land someone like Bertuzzi who is someone the organization has lacked for a while now. I wonder if he signed a one-year deal to later cash in a multi-year deal with Toronto next off-season when the cap rises or he’s thinking take a one-year deal with Toronto and take the biggest offer he can get on the open market during the 2024 off-season.
(Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
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