The Summer of the Great Black-and-Gold Second Guessing hit its zenith Sunday when Tyler Bertuzzi signed on with the Maple Leafs with a one-year deal that will pay the ex-Bruins winger $5.5 million.
The cry from the Black-and-Gold fandom: “Hey, why not us?!”
The answer, though seemingly convoluted, is very simple: there’s not enough money in the budget. The NHL’s hard cap is cruel, especially so right now for the team owned by Jeremy Jacobs, he who, let us not forget, led the owners’ crusade some 20 years ago for a capped payroll system.
Oh, when irony hits like a two-hander cracked under the chin.
That $5.5 million may look small — even in Bertuzzi’s eyes right now — but the Bruins didn’t have that money to spend, arguably even before general manager Don Sweeney unloaded Taylor Hall and then went on his spending spree to bring in the likes of James van Riemsdyk (34 years old), Milan Lucic (35), and Kevin Shattenkirk (34) for the NHL Seniors Tour.
Note: If Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci return for a kick at the big silver can next season, the Bruins on opening night could have six guys in the lineup who are 34 or older — Brad Marchand turned 35 in May.
Bertuzzi arrived in Boston in February, in part because the Red Wings figured they weren’t going to extend him at what he then rightly eyeballed as market rate (say $7 million to $8 million for multiple years). Sweeney knew then it would be a reach to keep Bertuzzi, but he rightly sized up Bertuzzi as a potential Cup-closer, and figured two draft picks (including a first-round choice in 2024) were worth the risk.
In the meantime, a lot happened, including an epic first-round collapse by the Bruins. Then the unrestricted free agent market collapsed nearly as spectacularly. The salary cap, $82.5 million last season, inched up by $1 million, which created a near market stranglehold prior to UFA bids officially going out at noon Saturday.
In prior years, some team, perhaps the Bruins, would have announced at 12:01 p.m. that the 28-year-old Bertuzzi had signed for $50-$55 million over seven or eight years.
We’ve seen those deals before. Bertuzzi was eager to see his, until he didn’t, and on Sunday he recalculated and accepted roughly 10 cents on the dollar.
Bertuzzi is left hoping that he produces well in Toronto, a good bet after seeing him deliver solid numbers when surrounded by top talent, and that the UFA waters churn next summer when front offices are expected to be working with a cap of around $88 million, thus scoring him that big payday.
That is the conventional wisdom for a lot of players pegged for the ‘24 UFA market. It also could be wrong. A move to $88 million would be a 5.4 percent increase over the coming season’s $83.5 million cap. GMs thus could spend a little over a nickel more for every dollar they could spend this summer.
Be still, my tattered “Economics for Dummies” heart, but I don’t see the 5.4 percent making the UFA geyser spray riches into the sky come July 2024.
Sweeney made clear last week that he felt Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, and Bertuzzi were seeking pay levels he couldn’t reach. He was correct. All three were out for champagne deals exceeding his beer-barrel budget.
Orlov hit big, albeit short on term, with his two-year, $15.5 million deal in Carolina. Hathaway grabbed two years/$4.75 million from the Flyers. Career-high average pay for both.
All three UFAs did well given the market. There could be a reasonable argument that Sweeney could have been sharper in his assessment and retained Hathaway, though that may be hindsight that comes with looking through the Hanson Brothers’ black-rimmed glasses.
Had Sweeney landed Bertuzzi at $5.5 million for one year, that would have negated the buying spree Saturday. He would have been left with his current spending money, about $6.2 million, to tie up restricted free agents Jeremy Swayman, Trent Frederic, and Jakub Lauko. He also would have been left with zero dollars to cover at least three roster spots now filled by Lucic, Shattenkirk, and Van Riemsdyk.
Sweeney did what was necessary and prudent: he filled out his bottom-six forward group and his bottom defense pairing (in theory, aside Derek Forbort) with legitimate, albeit aged, talent. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was responsible and smart. It can work, too, if coach Jim Montgomery doesn’t have to ask his seniors to perform like 18-year-olds.
Montgomery’s challenge going into 2023-24 will be to coach up the likes of Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle, currently his top two centers. Ditto for backliners Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, and perhaps Brandon Carlo. Montgomery needs all of them to be bigger offensive contributors, and that’s even if Bergeron and Krejci return as brothers Sisyphus.
Keep in mind, the annual UFA period is a speed-dating exercise. GMs don’t have the luxury, or advantage, of plying or playing the market. Those who muse a minute too long can get trampled.
Sweeney, with his top three UFAs gone shopping, had finite dollars to spend (give or take a million) and roster spots to fill. He had maybe four hours to close deals and secure an NHL-fit roster.
Had Sweeney not tied up the old guys, at roughly $1 million each, he would have been left hoping his team could compete for a playoff berth with a varsity roster replete with kids such as Fabian Lysell, Johnny Beecher, Georgii Merkulov, and maybe Luke Toporowski.
For the record, those four prospects have logged a total of zero NHL games. Good luck with that.
The true pain behind the pain, beyond the Bruins so spectacularly flaming out in Round 1, is what it cost to add Bertuzzi, Orlov, and Hathaway. Collectively, they played 90 games in Black and Gold and, yes, often looked terrific. Now they’re gone, likely lost forever.
The cost: six draft picks, including first-rounders this year (for Hathaway) and next (for Bertuzzi), as well as picks in Rounds 2, 3, 4, and 5. As of now, the Bruins next June won’t make a first-round pick for a franchise-record third consecutive year. The pipeline infrastructure has been, shall we say, interrupted.
Everyone knew all that in February. Here in July, after finishing 13 wins shy of a Cup, and with three big names out the door, that hidden cost could prove the greatest of all.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.