The Maple Leafs want to re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi and he wants to re-sign with Toronto, but the team has other matters requiring attention.
torontosun.com
Tyler Bertuzzi would like to remain with the Maple Leafs.
The Leafs, in turn, would like to re-sign the top-six winger.
Whether the sides are able to get to the point that Bertuzzi puts his autograph on a new contract, however, is another matter.
“We’ve had productive talks,” Todd Reynolds, the agent for Bertuzzi, said on Tuesday. “But the player realizes that there are other areas for the team to address. We’ll see where it goes.”
Those areas Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has to address, whether through free agency when it opens on July 1 or through trades, are rather obvious.
With that it mind, it’s likely the reason why that, while the sides have talked, there has been no solid offer made to Bertuzzi by the Leafs.
The space under the salary cap for Treliving, who will get a primary assist from assistant general manager Brandon Pridham in any signings,
to use will be a shade under $20 million US.
The priorities in Toronto are a goalie, defencemen and a centre.
Will there be enough money left to re-sign Bertuzzi? It wouldn’t appear so, but that could change. Bertuzzi made $5.5 million on a one-year deal in 2023-24, finishing with 21 goals and 22 assists in 80 games thanks to a better second half.
The starting point for the 29-year-old Sudbury, Ont., native on his next contract, presumably, would be at least $5 million.