Todd Bertuzzi signing with the Calgary Flames is not a good fit. It isn’t a good fit for the player. It isn’t a good fit for the team
Bertuzzi’s game was on the decline even before he bashed in Steve Moore’s brains. Before the Moore incident, Bertuzzi was on pace that season for only around 70 points, nearly 30 short of the 97 he had recorded the season before. It has been all downhill since. Last year he managed only 40 points, and that is playing on a line with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf for much of the season. Despite the fact that Bertuzzi will likely see ice time with Iginla in Calgary, the Flames lack a legitimate number one centre. Daymond Langkow certainly does not measure up to Getzlaf.
One thing Flames Fans will have to get used to is a lot more penalties, often at the most inopportune times. Even at his peak, Todd took many stupid penalties. When Todd was at his best, about half his penalties were because he was an aggressive, dominating power forward and the other half were because he would be lazy and not use his brain. Recently, half of his penalties are still because he can be lazy and dumb and the other half are simply because of his reputation for being a thug. Shall we go back to the 2006 Olympics? Guess who was in the penalty box in the third period of the gold medal game when Russia scored what would end up being the winning goal?
After spending last season with Anaheim, where hockey takes a back seat to several other sports, Bertuzzi will be returning to the country where hockey is king.
Bertuzzi’s game was on the decline even before he bashed in Steve Moore’s brains. Before the Moore incident, Bertuzzi was on pace that season for only around 70 points, nearly 30 short of the 97 he had recorded the season before. It has been all downhill since. Last year he managed only 40 points, and that is playing on a line with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf for much of the season. Despite the fact that Bertuzzi will likely see ice time with Iginla in Calgary, the Flames lack a legitimate number one centre. Daymond Langkow certainly does not measure up to Getzlaf.
One thing Flames Fans will have to get used to is a lot more penalties, often at the most inopportune times. Even at his peak, Todd took many stupid penalties. When Todd was at his best, about half his penalties were because he was an aggressive, dominating power forward and the other half were because he would be lazy and not use his brain. Recently, half of his penalties are still because he can be lazy and dumb and the other half are simply because of his reputation for being a thug. Shall we go back to the 2006 Olympics? Guess who was in the penalty box in the third period of the gold medal game when Russia scored what would end up being the winning goal?
After spending last season with Anaheim, where hockey takes a back seat to several other sports, Bertuzzi will be returning to the country where hockey is king.
"I played my best hockey in Canada when I was under the microscope, and that may
be a little kick-start to get it going again," said Bertuzzi.
While it is certainly true that he had his most productive years in Vancouver, he was far from someone who thrived in the spotlight. Todd played his best hockey in Vancouver when expectations for both him and the team were low. He burst on to the scene from relative obscurity when the team was in the shitter to become one of the games premiere power forwards and then slowly fizzled out as the spotlight intensified. After establishing himself as a first-liner, Todd only managed to lead the team to one playoff round victory in five years. He was rarely the one to bring his A-game when the team needed him most. And let’s not forget his last season in Vancouver in which the Canucks lost 6 of the last 8 games to miss out on a playoff spot. Todd hated the media with a passion and it has always been obvious that he is not one who craves to be the center of attention, especially when things are not going his way.
Media scrutiny aside, it is mind boggling that Bertuzzi would want to return to play in the Northwest division. Fans on the road are going to be all over him like flies on shit. Is he some kind of glutton for punishment that he really wants to play Minnesota, Vancouver and Colorado six times each season? Minnesota was the original city to start booing Todd back when the Wild knocked the Canucks out of the playoffs in 2003 and they have certainly not warmed to him since. It doesn’t need to be explained why he will forever be hated in Colorado. And now that he is playing for one of Vancouver’s biggest rivals, Canuck fans will no longer have any sympathy for him. It is going to be a rough ride all season long.
An ideal situation would have been a place like Atlanta where he could have finished out his career in relative obscurity and still made enough money to pay off his legal fees. Or how about Tampa Bay? They seem to be handing out contracts like candy and he would be completely lost in the shuffle there with the 19 other new forwards joining the team.
I am not even going to get into Bertuzzi’s numerous injuries over the last few seasons or his ongoing legal troubles, which are still years from conclusion. Needless to say, signing Todd was a gamble and it is not one that I see working out for Darryl Sutter and the Flames.
Media scrutiny aside, it is mind boggling that Bertuzzi would want to return to play in the Northwest division. Fans on the road are going to be all over him like flies on shit. Is he some kind of glutton for punishment that he really wants to play Minnesota, Vancouver and Colorado six times each season? Minnesota was the original city to start booing Todd back when the Wild knocked the Canucks out of the playoffs in 2003 and they have certainly not warmed to him since. It doesn’t need to be explained why he will forever be hated in Colorado. And now that he is playing for one of Vancouver’s biggest rivals, Canuck fans will no longer have any sympathy for him. It is going to be a rough ride all season long.
An ideal situation would have been a place like Atlanta where he could have finished out his career in relative obscurity and still made enough money to pay off his legal fees. Or how about Tampa Bay? They seem to be handing out contracts like candy and he would be completely lost in the shuffle there with the 19 other new forwards joining the team.
I am not even going to get into Bertuzzi’s numerous injuries over the last few seasons or his ongoing legal troubles, which are still years from conclusion. Needless to say, signing Todd was a gamble and it is not one that I see working out for Darryl Sutter and the Flames.
1 comment:
In the old NHL Todd Bertuzzi was a power forward that could dominate defenders with his strength and presence in front of the net. Once the NHL got wise to his "push off" move down low, he began to tail off. In the new NHL, which relies more on puck control and speed, Bertuzzi is simply too slow. Word on the street is he's attempting to lose 25 lbs before next season to try to increase his quickness. Losing weight can help you to increase your speed but not at the level to which it will make him any more effective. His power game will be gone, he'll still have no speed and not even Jarome Iginla can save him from a non-existent season. Aleem, as the resident Calgary Flame fan, what are your thoughts.
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