Morgan Rielly gushes over new Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi

The Maple Leafs have themselves some much-needed sandpaper for this season after scrappy forward Tyler Bertuzzi decided to leave Boston and sign in Toronto, joining his third Original 6 team of his NHL career after having played with the Detroit Red Wings for several seasons. 

He inked a one-year contract worth $5.5 million, a far cry from the reported multi-year deal that he was seeking. In fact, it was said that the chief reasoning behind his departure from the Red Wings at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline was that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman was unwilling to offer him a contract any longer than two or three years. 

And while his future beyond this season in Toronto remains a mystery, his new teammates have nothing but good things to say about what he'll be bringing to their squad this season. In fact, defenseman Morgan Rielly admits that Bertuzzi is far more skilled than he realized.

"Way more skilled than I thought," Rielly said of Bertuzzi. "More talent than I thought. He competes and he plays hard around the net and he has that style of play that we all know him for in terms of (being) strong on the puck, good hands around the net, gritty. But I think he's more talented than I ever thought." 

Bertuzzi is coming off what could be considered a down year, considering that he missed long stretches of play after he broke not one but both of his hands in separate shot blocking incidents with the Red Wings. But upon his trade to Boston, he provided an instant lift to their already record-breaking winning year, and would go on to score five goals with five assists for the Bruins in the playoffs in their ill-fated Round 1 series against the Florida Panthers. 

In 326 career NHL games, Bertuzzi has scored 92 goals with 126 assists. He only needs eight to reach 100.

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