Wings sign Todd Bertuzzi...Again

[raptor56]

The Detroit Red Wings signed free-agent forward Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year contract on Tuesday.



Bertuzzi



The deal is "worth around $1.5 million," a source told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4407343


Personally, I think the guy is washed up.

[Bobl]

Washed up.
Hockey is a young man's sport.

[Olddetroiter]

Washed up.
Hockey is a young man's sport.

By the Wings standards Bertuzzi is a young man.

[smogboy]

It still remains to be seen. Let's see this guy get through training camp. Can he beat out some of the hungry guys there in Grand Rapids or is he going to be joining them there? I'm not so gung-ho about this signing either. It just seems as though we're getting a re-tread but then Detroit's always been a place to rejuvenate a career for some. Let's see how this will play out.

I had these same sort of feelings about the Dallas Drake signing two years back and by the end of the season, he was hoisting the Cup.

[Novack]

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Holland must know what he is doing.

[diver1369]

Bertuzzi is a thug and shouldn't even be in the game. He attacked, blind-sided, a hockey player on the ice resulting in a career ending broken neck. It discredits NHL hockey and the Detroit Red Wings for allowing him to continue his career.

[Downriviera]

Only after said player, Steve Moore [[ a noname 4 th liner), attacked and blindsided his teammate, Marcus Naslund, who at the time was the leading scorer in the league. Naslund suffered a concussion and was never the same player afterwords and is now out of hockey.

[diver1369]

Only after said player, Steve Moore [[ a noname 4 th liner), attacked and blindsided his teammate, Marcus Naslund, who at the time was the leading scorer in the league. Naslund suffered a concussion and was never the same player afterwords and is now out of hockey.

Not quite true to the facts about Naslund's career.

From Wikipedia, the Steve Moore incident.
On February 16, 2004, during a Vancouver-Colorado game, Moore injured Canucks team captain Markus Näslund by checking him in the head area while Näslund was over extending for a puck ahead of him with his head down. No penalty was called on the play, but Näslund suffered a concussion and a bone chip in his elbow as a result of the hit, and missed three games. Moore's hit on Näslund drew much criticism from the Canucks and their fans, but the NHL ruled that the hit was not illegal and did not fine or suspend Moore. Canucks head coach Marc Crawford and general manager Brian Burke publicly criticized the non-call by the referees on the incident. Vancouver players indicated that they would get even with Moore, with left winger Brad May stating that he would put a bounty on Moore's head.
During the next game between the Canucks and Avalanche held in Denver, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL executive vice-president Colin Campbell attended the game, which ended in a tie and saw no major incidents break out.
However, on March 8, 2004, during another rematch between the Avalanche and Canucks, things went differently. In the first period, Moore fought Vancouver player Matt Cooke in a fairly even brawl, and served the 5-minute penalty for fighting. The Avalanche would go on to build up a large lead in a fight-filled game. Late in the third period, Todd Bertuzzi was sent onto the ice. After failing to instigate Moore to fight, Bertuzzi skated after him for a long period before punching Moore in the head from behind and falling upon him along with several other players from both teams. Moore's head was driven into the ice during the fall, causing three fractured neck vertebrae, facial cuts and a concussion.[1] Moore was knocked out, and lay motionless for ten minutes before being carried off on a stretcher.[2]

[Downriviera]

Bottom line is....if you are a forth line player and you take a run at a teams top player, legal or not, you have to be prepared for the consequences of your actions. Steve Moore learned this the hard way. Can you imagine what would have happened to him if he did this to Yzerman in the Probert/Kocur days.

[diver1369]

Bottom line is....if you are a forth line player and you take a run at a teams top player, legal or not, you have to be prepared for the consequences of your actions. Steve Moore learned this the hard way. Can you imagine what would have happened to him if he did this to Yzerman in the Probert/Kocur days.

Why not just have a designated assassin go out onto the ice with a samurai sword and start hacking off body parts of the offensive player? Why not dispense with the formality of the rules of play? You "hockey fans" may not realize it but you're justifying murder because Steve Moore could have easily died on the ice that night.

[reddog289]

I myself have learned not to question the Wings managment too often.My gramps up north shot me an Email asking me "WHY". Told him wait and see.

[Bobl]

Bertuzzi was wrong. Period.
But, it seems that there were fewer cheap shots, and certainly fewer fourth line players taking runs at opposing team's stars, when the likes of Dave Semenko were on the ice, before the "instigator" penalties were adopted.

[Downriviera]

diver1369,

You called Bertuzzi a thug. He is not a thug. I've watched him play since his junior days in the Ontario League with Guelph. He's one of the best power forwards to ever play the game. Recent injuries have hampered his career, so it remains to be seen what he can do for the Wings, but I think its worth the gamble. What he did to Steve Moore is what most players do to protect teammates. Its unfortunate what happened to Moore, usually its just a bloody/broken nose and a black eye. If you watch the replay, it appears that the worst of Moore's injuries may have come when his own teammates jumped on top of Bertuzzi who had fallen on top of Moore. There is an element of violence in all sports. In hockey, guys like Bertuzzi help keep the peace.

[Bobl]

I remember when he nearly single handedly destroyed the Wings in the playoffs, years ago. The headline in one newspaper read: Too Much Bertuzzi

I am skeptical that he will help now, but must admit that Holland and the Wings know much more than I.

[diver1369]

diver1369,

You called Bertuzzi a thug. He is not a thug. I've watched him play since his junior days in the Ontario League with Guelph. He's one of the best power forwards to ever play the game. Recent injuries have hampered his career, so it remains to be seen what he can do for the Wings, but I think its worth the gamble. What he did to Steve Moore is what most players do to protect teammates. Its unfortunate what happened to Moore, usually its just a bloody/broken nose and a black eye. If you watch the replay, it appears that the worst of Moore's injuries may have come when his own teammates jumped on top of Bertuzzi who had fallen on top of Moore. There is an element of violence in all sports. In hockey, guys like Bertuzzi help keep the peace.

How murder in sports gets rationalized^^^^^^^^^

[Downriviera]

Last I checked Steve Moore was still alive. ^^^^^

[diver1369]

Last I checked Steve Moore was still alive. ^^^^^

It will take a tragedy, like murder or paralysis, before you will change your mind on the level of violence in the game.

There should be a rule that any player who injures another player as a result of fighting, high sticking or slashing with the intent to injure should have to sit out as many games as the injured player plus three games and their salary surrendered for those games penalized.

[Downriviera]

It will take a tragedy, like murder or paralysis, before you will change your mind on the level of violence in the game.

There should be a rule that any player who injures another player as a result of fighting, high sticking or slashing with the intent to injure should have to sit out as many games as the injured player plus three games and their salary surrendered for those games penalized.

As I said, there is an element of violence in all sports. You seem to be picking on hockey. What do you have to say about baseball pitchers that purposely throw at batters heads, blows to the face/head, chop blocks to the knees, etc. in football, and race car drivers crashing opponents off the track.

[diver1369]

There's always been a cult of violence in hockey where fighting is accepted as just being part of the game. You saw it in the Finals this last year when Crosby took cheap hits and slashed Red Wing players at the end of game 2. It was tolerated as being his effort to motivate his team for the next game. The powers-that-be wouldn't hold him nor the other Penguin player responsible since they were their two best players at that point in the series. I'm losing my respect for those who run NHL hockey who seem more interested in marketing the game rather than managing it fairly.

I don't follow nor care about basketball and football.

[Bobl]

"...The powers-that-be wouldn't hold him nor the other Penguin player responsible since they were their two best players at that point in the series..."

Yes, the powers that be and the NBC executives were not going to do anything that might have a detrimental effect on Crosby and the Penguins' chances to win the cup.

As it turned out, it was demonstrated that hockey is a young man's sport. The team that won four out of five games, after losing the first two, proved to be the better team.
The Wings were banged up and out of gas.

[diver1369]

I agree with you. Niklas Lidstrom said it himself. The Wings had two shots to win one game and they failed to do that. The point I was trying to make was that the instigator penalty against the Penguin player should have resulted in a game suspension but the NHL was loathe to do that because of it's effect on the playoffs. The rules are not uniformly enforced. Just as the attack upon Steve Moore is diminished because of his playing status. Bertuzzi should have never been allowed back into the game. He made and enforced a career ending judgment against Steve Moore. He should have suffered the same.

[Downriviera]

Steve Moore should have been suspended for his hit on Naslund. Had this happened, the incident with Bertuzzi could have been avoided.

[diver1369]

Steve Moore should have been suspended for his hit on Naslund. Had this happened, the incident with Bertuzzi could have been avoided.

Here's wikipedia account of the Naslund incident which resulted in a lynch mob mentality targeting Steve Moore. You'll notice that a penalty wasn't called on Steve Moore for his check on Naslund nor did the league punish Moore after a review of the incident. Somehow you have it in your mind that the actions of the attacking players on Moore and the atmosphere justifying it is OK.


From wikipedia: On February 16, 2004, during a Vancouver-Colorado game, Moore injured Canucks team captain Markus Näslund by checking him in the head area while Näslund was over extending for a puck ahead of him with his head down. No penalty was called on the play, but Näslund suffered a concussion and a bone chip in his elbow as a result of the hit, and missed three games. Moore's hit on Näslund drew much criticism from the Canucks and their fans, but the NHL ruled that the hit was not illegal and did not fine or suspend Moore. Canucks head coach Marc Crawford and general manager Brian Burke publicly criticized the non-call by the referees on the incident. Vancouver players indicated that they would get even with Moore, with left winger Brad May stating that he would put a bounty on Moore's head.

[Downriviera]

Nor did the league punish Moore after a review of the incident.

And there you have the crux of the issue. The league needs to do a better job of policing head shots. Especially since the players now wear elbow and shoulder pads made of hard plastic. The league did nothing so the players took it upon themselves. And, speaking as someone who has played the game all of my life, I am ok with that. Otherwise, the Steve Moores of the world would be free to take cheap shots at the star players.