File this one under “bizarre”.
Late yesterday afternoon, a Twitter follower sent me a link to a previously unknown Montreal-based website. The article suggested that the Ottawa Senators had reached an agreement with previously believed to be retired forward Todd Bertuzzi.
It certainly wasn’t something I had heard but the complete randomness of the rumour was enough to grab my attention. And as it turns out, that website may have been on to something.
As @SunGarrioch noted, Todd Bertuzzi’s rep has reached out to OTT about a PTO with Binghamton in AHL but nothing formalized at this point.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 5, 2015
As confirmed by Bob McKenzie late yesterday (And Steve Warne and Bruce Garrioch), the Ottawa Senators have indeed talked to Todd Bertuzzi’s agent about a professional try-out agreement with AHL team in Binghamton. As of yesterday, no deal had been reached between the two sides but it sounds like this is a move the Senators are seriously considering.
A PTO in Binghamton would be pretty harmless. It’s a chance to get a free look to see if there’s anything left in the tank for Bertuzzi.
Bryan Murray has long been in search for a power forward that could add some jam up front and you’d be hard pressed to find a lower-risk, cheaper option than this one. If it doesn’t work out, the PTO ends and both sides go their separate ways. On the other hand, if Bertuzzi does have one last gasp in him, the Senators can add him to the NHL roster and maybe avoid making a terrible deal for Chris Stewart. It’s a low-risk, low-reward kind of move really.
We’ll see if we hear anything more on this front in the next couple days.
Game Day post coming in a little bit. In the meantime, here’s 15 minutes of Todd Bertuzzi highlights.
