A sad chapter in NHL history is closed

Settlement reached in Moore’s lawsuit against Bertuzzi and Canucks

VANCOUVER— When news broke Tuesday that Steve Moore’s lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks had been settled — news that was overdue but expected, like the death of George Burns or the retirement of Chris Chelios — the natural question was: What took so long?

It has been nearly 10½ years since Bertuzzi sucker-punched Moore, then a fourth-line player with the Colorado Avalanche, during a game in Vancouver.

The incident started as an indictment of National Hockey League culture and is ending as an indictment on the pace of the civil justice system in Canada.

Moore’s lead lawyer, Tim Danson, cast his first lawsuit in the case in 2005, in Colorado, then reloaded and filed a new suit in Ontario, on Feb. 16, 2006, which happened to be the day of Bertuzzi’s first game with Team Canada at the Turin Olympics. Just a coincidence, Danson said.

Danson’s demands began with the claim of a mere $18 million for his client — $15 million of it for alleged future loss of NHL income by Moore, who was 25 when he was attacked and had spent most of three professional seasons in the minors. In 69 games with an excellent Avalanche team, Moore amassed five goals, 12 points and was minus-nine. Moore’s parents also filed a claim against Bertuzzi, seeking $1.5 million for “negligent infliction of nervous shock and mental distress.”

But inflation being what it is, Moore’s objective ballooned over time to $38 million, then, only seven weeks ago, $68 million. Perhaps that figure was accompanied by Moore or Danson raising a pinky finger to his mouth and laughing diabolically.

Some of the justification for the damage figures also seemed to change, from Moore’s loss of income — the loss of his NHL career — to the loss of his dream.

Last spring, a day before the 10th anniversary of Bertuzzi’s March 8, 2004 attack, Moore told The Canadian Press that he still suffered from headaches and fatigue.

“I lost my entire career in my rookie year,” Moore said. “I can’t recover anything else. I can’t recover my career, the experience of living out my dream, from the time I was 2½-years-old, of playing in the NHL.”

Unsuccessful at getting into business school at Stanford or Harvard, where he starred on the hockey team as an undergraduate, Moore today has enough money to pursue other dreams.

Whether he says so or not, Big Bert will be relieved this is over. The NHL, which never received the blame it deserved for its role as enabler in both incidents (Bertuzzi’s attack probably would not occur today because the league would have suspended Moore for head hunting Naslund instead of condoning it) should be even more relieved. The fullblown trial was scheduled to begin just before NHL training camps in September.

Bertuzzi was never the same. He matured and, after leaving Vancouver, survived as a role player who stayed under the radar and out of trouble. But Bertuzzi was never again great. In some ways, both players were broken that night.