The numbers behind Tyler Bertuzzi’s disappointing debut season in Chicago

Last week we discussed one of the Blackhawks better free-agent acquisitions from the 2024 offseason during a deep dive on Teuvo Teravainen\'s 2024-25 season in Chicago. This exercise won\'t be as pleasant, because it\'s focusing on a free-agent signing who had nowhere near the level of success that Teuvo did.

It\'s the active player -- don\'t forget that Shea Weber\'s on the books here! -- with the biggest cap hit on the Blackhawks at the moment: Tyler Bertuzzi.

At a very brief glance, Bertuzzi\'s numbers may not seem so bad, considering he had similar levels of production this season in Chicago as he did last season with Toronto while skating about the same amount of ice time. With the Hawks, Bertuzzi averaged 16:00 of ice time in 82 games and tallied 46 points (23 G, 23 A). With the Leafs, Bertuzzi averaged 16:03 of ice time in 80 games and produced 43 points (21 G, 22 A).

But the reasons behind Bertuzzi\'s initial season in Chicago feeling more like a disappointment become clearer with a deeper exploration of those numbers. Start with the expanded opportunity that became available for Bertuzzi when he signed with a team that did not have a wealth of elite forward talent on it in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander. That expanded role was one possible argument for Bertuzzi possibly finding his way back to the 62-point player he was with Detroit in the 2021-22 season.

Assuming he gets a bigger role that includes PP1 time (something he probably wouldn't have received in TOR), a $5.5M deal is pretty fair for Tyler Bertuzzi. Should be a nice injection of talent for CHI who could put up 55-to-60 points while being a strong 5-on-5 play-driver. pic.twitter.com/8FQNQ25zM2

— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 1, 2024

Bertuzzi did get more power-play time, too, going from 130:21 of ice time last season with Toronto to 204:07 this season with Chicago. The production improved, as well: Bertuzzi had 20 points (10 G, 10 A) on Chicago\'s power play after tallying just six (5 G, 1 A) with Toronto in 2023-24. Bertuzzi was effective on Chicago\'s top power-play unit all season long, typically finding his rewards as a result of going to the net:

Tyler Bertuzzi - Chicago Blackhawks (23) Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/PjQBPeByZI

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 15, 2025

pic.twitter.com/uTbtv2KsdP

— BlackhawksFocus (@FocusBlackhawks) March 26, 2025

Beyond that power-play success, though, there\'s not much positive to say Bertuzzi\'s first season in Chicago. One conclusion should\'ve been obviously from the power-play numbers above: If Bertuzzi produced at the same overall rate in Chicago as he did in Toronto with more time on the man advantage, then this rate of production had to decline somewhere else -- which it did at 5-on-5. Of the 30 Blackhawks who skated at least 100 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time last season, Bertuzzi was 14th on the team at 1.35 points per 60 minutes, behind players like Pat Maroon, Joe Veleno and Colton Dach, among others. The guy making the most money on the team can\'t be 14th at 5-on-5 production -- he just can\'t.

Another aspect of Bertuzzi\'s production last season was the timing of it, s omething which came up during the embarrassment that was the Winter Classic . Bertuzzi seemed to score goals during inconsequential moments, with 10 of his 23 goals being scored when there was a margin of two or more on the scoreboard -- including seven in the third period, which feels a little like garbage-time stat padding.

Bertuzzi 2024-25 (CHI) 1st 2nd 3rd Within 1 or Tied 9 1 3 Margin of 2 or More 2 1 7

Bertuzzi seemed to either score Chicago\'s first goal of the game or tack on a late one when the result had already been decided. For comparison\'s sake, here\'s a breakdown of Bertuzzi\'s goals during his last season in Toronto:

Bertuzzi 2023-24 (TOR) 1st 2nd 3rd Within 1 or Tied 4 6 2 Margin of 2 or More 1 3 5

A little more diversity in the timing of his goals there, right?

There\'s been a steady decline in Bertuzzi\'s production since that peak 2021-22 season with Detroit that\'s been evident in both the traditional numbers like goals/assists/points and in some of the more focused statistics out there. Heading over to Corey Sznajder\'s \"All Three Zones\" project, watch the healthy amount of blue bars (which are good!) from Bertuzzi\'s 2021-22 season with Detroit steadily move to shades of red (which are not!) for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Bertuzzi seemed especially ineffective in the transition game while with Chicago, where his zone entries are especially crimson-tinted.

Overall, it\'s been a mostly downward trend for Bertuzzi for multiple seasons now, and the expanded role he was handed in Chicago did nothing to turn the tide in a positive direction. Unless the Blackhawks buy him out -- which may not be entirely out of the question -- Bertuzzi will remain under contract for three more seasons and, among the many tasks awaiting the new head coach arriving behind the bench this summer will be figuring out what it takes to find the spark in Bertuzzi\'s game which has been absent for a couple of seasons now.

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