GettyFormer Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi

One year after signing a prove-it deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, forward Tyler Bertuzzi signed a sizable four-year, $22 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks at the start of free agency on July 1.

Bertuzzi, however, didn’t expect to sign a long-term deal with Chicago ahead of free agency while still a member of the Maple Leafs organization. As Bertuzzi revealed on July 5, Chicago “wasn’t on his radar,” although a conversation changed his view of the franchise and led him to sign there.

“Chicago wasn’t really on my radar,” Bertuzzi said. “And then, the day before free agency, Nick Foligno called me and he said, ‘They’re a little bit interested.’ I was excited about that and then things kind of went from there.”

Bertuzzi played with Foligno in Boston as the two players were with the Boston Bruins in the 2022-23 season. The veteran Foligno, 36 years old, already played for the Blackhawks during the 2023-24 season. He appeared in 74 games scoring 17 goals and assisting 20 for 37 total points.

Former Maple Leafs forward Bertuzzi, on the other hand, completed his one-year contract in Toronto logging 80 appearances in which he scored 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists).

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson acknowledged the help he received from Foligno on July 5, saying the veteran has “a lot of friends around the league,” one of them being Bertuzzi.

“I think Nick’s got a lot of friends around the league,” Davidson told reporters. “He’s a guy, I think, whose network is very large. It’s kind of funny when we hear that. We don’t ask them to do these things but Nick cares. He knows a lot of people, he loves the team and he wants to push this thing forward.”

Blackhawks Bet on Experience to Surround Connor Bedard

Foligno joined the Blackhawks on June 2023 along with rookie phenom Connor Bedard. He signed another contract for a two-year extension in January 2024 with a duration of two seasons lasting until the end of the 2025-26 season.

Bertuzzi is joining Foligno on his own four-year deal with the Blackhawks. Chicago seems to be entering the second phase of their rebuild, trying to sign veterans that help Bedard’s development and create the proper environment for the rookie to lead the Hawks back to contention in a few years.

Along with Foligno in the summer of 2023 and Bertuzzi in July 2024, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson signed forwards Craig Smith, Teuvo Teravainen, and Pat Maroon, along with defensemen T.J. Brodie and Alec Martinez, as well as goalie Laurent Brossoit.

Only fellow free-agent signee Joseph Anderson is younger than 29 years old, and none of the aforementioned players except for Bertuzzi signed a contract for more than three seasons, per Spotrac.

“We want to be better,” Davidson said. “We want to be able to go into games and impose ourselves on a game more than we have in the past, rather than trying to stem the tide or having teams take it to us. We want to be able to play with the puck more and control the game a little more and obviously get more wins as a result.”

Tyler Bertuzzi ‘Out Priced’ Himself From Toronto

Bertuzzi didn’t do anything wrong during the 2023-24 season for the Maple Leafs to decide not to re-sign him. In fact, he did the opposite.

Darren Dreger of TSN reported on June 30 that Bertuzzi wouldn’t be re-signing with the Maple Leafs after playing one season with the team, mostly because his production had “out priced” himself out of town.

“Tyler Bertuzzi won’t be returning to the Maple Leafs. His value has out priced Toronto. He will land a deal elsewhere in the 4 year and over $5 mil per territory,” Dreger reported.

The report became a reality just a day later with the Blackhawks signing Bertuzzi to that four-year contract.

“I think Toronto is nervous of term.”

The writing of Bertuzzi’s potential exit, however, was on the wall since mid-June. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Leafs were “nervous” about the term Max Domi and Bertuzzi could demand from Toronto.

“The one thing is, I know Domi wants some term,” Friedman said on June 12. “Look, I think Max Domi is a perfect Leaf. He’s going to be happy to be here for a long time. I think Toronto is nervous of term. I think if they can find a term number that makes sense to both sides, then I think it happens.

“Bertuzzi is the interesting one,” Friedman said. “I also think they want to bring him back. But again, I think the Leafs are trying to be really careful about term. That’s one thing that I was warned–if they lose some of these players, it’s probably going be because of term more than AAV.”

The Leafs let Bertuzzi go but signed Domi to a four-year, $15 million extension on July 1.