Around the League: Former Red Wing Tyler Bertuzzi Signs with Chicago

Former Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi signed a four year, $5.5 million deal with the Chicago Blackhawks to join his fourth Original Six team in three seasons.

Tyler Bertuzzi must really love the Original Six.

The former Red Wings forward signed a four year, $5.5 million contract Monday with the Chicago Blackhawks, joining his fourth Original Six franchise in three seasons. Bertuzzi was with Detroit until the 2023 trade deadline, when the Red Wings dealt him to the Boston Bruins. He spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The cap hit was close in line with Bertuzzi's projected $5.29 million value according to AFPAnalytics. It's money well spent. Bertuzzi brings a snarly scoring profile that a lot of teams covet. He doesn't mind going into the hard areas of the ice, and he tends to make plays there even if they don't all go in the net.

With his history in Detroit, especially his relationship with captain Dylan Larkin, it seemed as though there might be an outside chance that Bertuzzi could come back to the Motor City where he started his career. But with such limited cap space and so many expensive contracts — UFA and RFA — any chance of Bertuzzi reunion hopes were quashed by cap space.

For the Blackhawks, signing Bertuzzi and reuniting with veteran forward Teuvo Teravainen is a sign that they want to be more competitive next season, placing competent players around star forward Connor Bedard and other prospects. Playoff contention would be a lofty goal, but at the very least additions like Bertuzzi can take them out of the NHL basement should the deal work out.

Bertuzzi entered the market after negotiations broke down with the Maple Leafs, who made a number of big splashes including re-signing forward Max Domi, adding defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson for four years and signing defenseman Chris Tanev for six years. It's clear that money would be tight for the team, and so Bertuzzi hit the open market. 

Now, it's just a question of whether Bertuzzi might check New York and Montreal off his Original Six list, too.