from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic,

...you’ll find the NHL’s top 50 unrestricted free agents with player cards showing future trajectories and value for the most intriguing ones. For those who need it, an explainer can be found at the bottom of the post.

Strong Support Players

Tyler Bertuzzi

The best forward available in the 2023 UFA class is Tyler Bertuzzi. Yeah. Not the sexiest list of marquee names at the top this year. Any team looking for a game changer at the top of the lineup won’t find one.

Bertuzzi, though, is a game changer in the middle of a contending lineup. The perfect second-line winger that can score the greasy goals necessary to come out ahead in a playoff atmosphere. The Bruins may have lost in the opening round, but that was through no fault of Bertuzzi’s, whose first taste of playoff action was a huge success. He scored five goals and 10 points in seven games and looked like a beast on every shift.

That’s not unexpected given his history with the Red Wings where he’s always been a strong play-driver and scored 62 points in 68 games last season. After a rough start to the year, he carried that over once he joined the Bruins, a predictable outcome considering how much offense Bertuzzi was creating.

The rub with Bertuzzi is that his play without the puck can be his undoing. His defensive impacts are below average and it’s a big reason why the Bruins were heavily outscored and outchanced with Bertuzzi on the ice at five-on-five in the playoffs. That’s what’s keeping him from being a true top-line player, but he’s still a great fit in any top six.

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