GM Don Sweeney Clears The Air Regarding Tyler Bertuzzi
The Boston Bruins and GM Don Sweeney stuck their necks out to try and re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi, so much so that Sweeney was actually shocked when Bertuzzi signed a one-year deal elsewhere.
«Probably a little bit [surprised], yeah,» Sweeney, on Bertuzzi's pivot to a one-year deal which led him to the Maple Leafs last Sunday, «Again, I'll speak more generally than just talking about a player on another team at this point in time. There were players that were looking for longer-term deals and my discussions were focused on that, and some teams were in a good position to be able to give shorter-term deals at the right numbers.»
When Sweeney last discussed the Bertuzzi negotiations, he mentioned that he felt that the Bruins were out of the running due to both the term and average annual value that Bertuzzi was going to rightfully command on his next contract.
Yet, after looking at the market, Tyler Bertuzzi realized he would not be getting term especially this summer. From any team, let alone the Bruins.
The Bruins did actually offer multiple multi-year deals in the days and hours in order to try and keep Bertuzzi. One thing that did not come up during those talks, however, was a one-year deal, Sweeney confirmed. It was obviously a late chance of thought for Tyler Bertuzzi and his agent.
«We had to go and fill our gaps,» Sweeney admitted. «We made a move to open up the space we needed to. It would've required us to be even more proactive and do deals that we explored, but we didn't feel the value was there to open up even more space or to be overly aggressive and to do a deal and have to make a move as a result of that.»
«I mean even in the Taylor Hall [deal] where we freed up enough space to do what we had to do, you aren't trying to walk a good player out of your lineup,» Sweeney acknowledged. «We had a really good team this year and we had a lot of really good players. We had tough decisions to make and we're still waiting on some decisions. So, that's not the goal Stripping things down and you see teams do that around the deadline when there have been situations that have been determined We have a competitive core and we're trying to complement that and allow some guys to grow.»
The Bruins also entered free agency with six forwards, six defensemen, and one goaltender signed to their NHL roster for the upcoming season. For as much as they liked and wanted to keep Bertuzzi, the Bruins didn't exactly have the luxury or time of waiting around for Bertuzzi once they identified a free agent of interest to them, especially with prices being affordable off the jump.
Source: 985 The Sports Hub
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Did Don Sweeney make the right move, moving on from Tyler Bertuzzi? | ||
| Yes | 36 | 57.1 % |
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