Tyler Bertuzzi, Maple Leafs Agree to Reported 1-Year, $5.5M Contract

After helping the Boston Bruins win the most regular-season games in NHL history last year, Tyler Bertuzzi is headed to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.

Bertuzzi signed a one-year contract with Toronto, the team announced Sunday. The winger will make $5.5 million, TSN's Chris Johnston reported, marking the highest annual salary of his career.

Bertuzzi was a successful trade deadline acquisition for the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins last season, scoring four goals and 12 assists in 21 games on the team's third line. Prior to his stint in Boston, the winger recorded 88 goals and 114 assists in 305 games with the Detroit Red Wings, who drafted him in 2013.

Bertuzzi, who recorded his first career 30-goal season in 2021-22, was held to eight in 50 games last campaign thanks to brutal injury luck.

The winger made just nine appearances for Detroit between October and January 2022. After hurting his hand on a blocked shot in the second game of the season, Bertuzzi missed nine contests. He returned, played seven games, and then suffered another hand injury, this one requiring surgery and sidelining him for months.

When healthy, Bertuzzi spent most of his time in Detroit on the Red Wings' top line, flanking Dylan Larkin with Lucas Raymond on the other wing. The trio was offensively successful enough to help earn Larkin an All-Star nomination, but at times got exposed for their defensive weaknesses.

Once traded to a deeper Bruins roster, Bertuzzi thrived in his newly sheltered position, heating up offensively as he settled into his new third-line role. Including the first round of the playoffs, Bertuzzi recorded 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in his last 11 games of the campaign.

Toronto's deal for Bertuzzi is a vote of confidence that the 28-year-old will be able to continue producing at a similarly blistering pace in 2023-24. He is now the team's highest-paid player behind Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Having dedicated over $40 million, or over 48 percent of the salary cap, to the team's top four forwards, the Maple Leafs have limited wiggle room left under the cap. They will hope Bertuzzi puts up another 30-goal season, or close to it, as the team looks to fill out the rest of the roster with cheaper contracts.