Bertuzzi turns down Bruins, will hit the open market

This just in, pending unrestricted free agent Tyler Bertuzzi has informed the Boston Bruins that he will NOT be re-signing with the team... at least not before the opening of free agency.

The Bruins are in a serious cap crunch, but did manage to free up some salary cap space by shipping Taylor Hall to the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this week. The belief at that time was that the Bruins would then take a run at Bertuzzi ahead of free agency, but... well evidently that isn't happening now.

The Bruins now have $10.9 million in cap space to add nine roster players for next season. Their unsigned RFA's include Trent Frederic and Jeremy Swayman in addition to Mitchell and Regula. Unsigned UFA's include Bertuzzi, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, Tomas Nosek and Connor Clifton.

Frankly, I think the Bruins would have been wise to get Bertuzzi under contract... up to a certain point. There's no denying the fact that he's worth the $6 million annually they paid to Hall, but I suspect he'll likely command $7 million + on the open market. After all, he's arguably the best free agent available this offseason. It'll be interesting to see what his next deal looks like, especially if indeed he hits the open market.