Maple Leafs’ Bertuzzi Could Be on Verge of Breaking Out
When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Tyler Bertuzzi in the offseason, the hope was that he was going to provide the intensity and production that was missing when Michael Bunting left in free agency. However, it has been anything but as the production has been below average given how he’s supposed to be an important piece to the team’s offense.
It’s been a challenging season for Bertuzzi as he’s been dealt with long streaks of going cold and inconsistent play. He’s been moving up and down the lineup and was previously in the midst of a 19-game goal drought. He hasn’t lived up to expectations to this point which is concerning given his $5.5 million cap hit. The lack of secondary scoring that he was supposed to bring has been non-existent, where the team needed to find offense elsewhere than just from the core players.
That concern could be put to rest, as he finally had a breakout performance where he was extremely crucial in their 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche, scoring a hat trick and the game winning goal. It was great to see Bertuzzi step up to the plate to find the score sheet on more than one occasion. Now, he has an opportunity to build off that game as it has been a difficult season where his production has been anything but great.
Bertuzzi Still Impactful, Despite Production
The lack of production from Bertuzzi has been criticized all season, which is fair. When you’re paid that much money to be a consistent point producer, it’s definitely not going to sit well with the fans and critics. However, even though he wasn’t finding the score sheet, Bertuzzi remained an important player in regards to shot generation and scoring chances when he was on the ice.
You may think that because he wasn’t producing, Bertuzzi’s numbers wouldn’t be that noticeable at all. On the contrary, he’s been the best Maple Leaf forward in a number of key categories, just like he was early on in the season. His numbers at five-on-five (min. 250 minutes) were strong before they had their matchup against the Avalanche. He had the best Corsi for percentage (53.16), expected goals for percentage (55.82), scoring chances for (57.23) and high danger chances for (58.28).
To say that Bertuzzi has been snake-bitten this season is a massive understatement given the numbers above. He’s had his chances and has done a lot of the little things right in regards to winning battles, getting to the middle of the ice and crashing the net for second chance opportunities. He just couldn’t bury his chances. Considering his individual expected goals is 11.29 (15.18 in all situations), he should’ve had much better results to this point. Even head coach Sheldon Keefe has alluded to his play and generating chances in order to be successful.
