RWJC Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Maple Leafs Open Contract Talks With Tyler Bertuzzi June 1st, 2024 at 6:00pm CST • By Brian La Rose Winger Tyler Bertuzzi is one of many pending unrestricted free agents for the Maple Leafs and is also one of their more prominent ones. It had been suggested previously that there was mutual interest in a contract extension and it appears those talks are now underway, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). He added that it’s way too early in the process to determine if the two sides might be able to work out a new deal. Last summer was an interesting one for the 29-year-old. Even though he was coming off a down year, Bertuzzi was one of the better unrestricted free agents in last year’s class, landing in the top ten in our annual rankings. That appeared to have him set to receive a multi-year agreement (if not a long-term one) and a raise on the $4.75MM AAV he had been playing on. However, the market he was hoping for never materialized. Rather than accept a multi-year deal at a lower rate, he instead pivoted on the second day of free agency, inking a one-year, $5.5MM pact with Toronto. It looked like his hope was that a key role on a Maple Leafs team that had a strong offensive core could help better position himself to land a long-term agreement on the open market this time around. Things didn’t go quite as planned, however. Bertuzzi got off to a slow start, notching just nine points in his first 27 games despite holding down a spot in the top six for most of that time. He was able to rebound in the second half, however, finishing up with 21 goals and 20 assists in 80 games before tying for the team lead in playoff points with four. Bertuzzi is only two years removed from a 30-goal season when he had 30 tallies and 32 assists in 68 games during the 2021-22 season. He also has two other 21-goal campaigns under his belt so there is a reasonable track record of offensive success. Having said that, the fact he wasn’t able to get back to that 30-goal mark (instead staying closer to his career averages) won’t help his chances of landing a raise and a long-term pact. If Bertuzzi wants some job security in the form of a multi-year agreement, he’s likely going to have to take at least a small discount on the salary side. Toronto has a little more than $18MM in cap room this summer, per CapFriendly. However, they have to sign a few forwards, several defensemen, and a goalie with that money so while there is some flexibility to make a big signing if they want, they also need to spread that money around. They have next month to figure out if a new deal for Bertuzzi fits in with how they want to allocate their remaining cap room. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/06/maple-leafs-open-contract-talks-with-tyler-bertuzzi.html#ref=home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPA Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Bertuzzi seems to be a consistent 20g 40+ pt player. Probably worth around $4-5M. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Long Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Ha ha, Treliving never met a bad contact he didn't like. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysACanuckFan Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 15 minutes ago, BPA said: Bertuzzi seems to be a consistent 20g 40+ pt player. Probably worth around $4-5M. How would he look in Canucks colors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post RWJC Posted June 2 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 2 4 minutes ago, AlwaysACanuckFan said: How would he look in Canucks colors? He would look overpriced 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 (edited) His skating is suspect at best and isn't going to get better with age Edited June 2 by Bell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysACanuckFan Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 2 minutes ago, RWJC said: He would look overpriced I guess we'll see who we bring back out of our UFAs and go from there. But yes probably overpriced 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Long Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 5 minutes ago, RWJC said: He would look overpriced And really confused 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Meh, they can have him 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Long Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 7 minutes ago, Coconuts said: Meh, they can have him How's it going? Haven't seen you post for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoop Hogg Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 54 minutes ago, AlwaysACanuckFan said: How would he look in Canucks colors? He would have to wear #44… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Mini Bert is a puck sucker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysACanuckFan Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 56 minutes ago, Bob Long said: And really confused And find a partner for him to play with and call it the Dazed and Confused line 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJC Posted June 2 Author Share Posted June 2 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Bob Long said: How's it going? Haven't seen you post for a while. @Coconuts yeah, get your ass back in gear, lol. I’m having to do my best Vintage impersonation and I suck at it! Edited June 2 by RWJC 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJC Posted June 2 Author Share Posted June 2 40 minutes ago, AlwaysACanuckFan said: And find a partner for him to play with and call it the Dazed and Confused line Bring Eric Daze out of retirement? https://www.nhl.com/player/eric-daze-8459515 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 I dunno... I'm thinking 10... maybe $11M AAV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 2 hours ago, Bob Long said: How's it going? Haven't seen you post for a while. 1 hour ago, RWJC said: @Coconuts yeah, get your ass back in gear, lol. I’m having to do my best Vintage impersonation and I suck at it! I've been down on vacation on the island the past couple weeks, we're in Merritt right now so we're on our way back up You'll see more of me soon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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