MOTOR CITY OVERHAUL
Bertuzzi has become a vital cog for the high- flying Wings.
It’s no sure thing that “admire” is a word — even eight years later — that can safely appear in the same sentence as the name “Todd Bertuzzi” without inciting a public outcry.
His brooding expression and perpetually unshaven, tooth-deprived visage make him an easy villain for those who can never forgive his assault of Steve Moore and who regard his renaissance as an undeserved bonus, a gift from a too- lenient National Hockey League.
Full disclosure here: It wouldn’t have broken this heart to see Colin Campbell and Gary Bettman decide on eye- for- an-eye in their punishment of the Vancouver Canuck forward in March 2004. Withdraw the welcome mat and shut out Bertuzzi until such time as Moore could return to play, which we now know was never.
But over time, as the sharp lawyers have dragged the case out to milk ever- higher damages, let’s just say there is room to admire the second career the now 37- year- old power forward has fashioned from the wreckage of the Moore tragedy — that sucker- punch gone terribly wrong which, at the time, seemed to have done irreparable damage to the perpetrator’s reputation, life, and future in hockey.
To be sure, whatever your feelings about the culture of NHL retribution or the original head shot on Markus Naslund that demanded a response from the Canucks, the far greater damage was to the life of Steve Moore.
But Bertuzzi, who understood his role and carried it out too well, also suffered.
He was 29 years old, suspended for the balance of the season and playoffs. He was facing not only a criminal trial, but the ensuing civil case that is ... well, still ensuing. And, though he didn’t know it then, he was also facing an additional year of unemployment because the International Ice Hockey Federation upheld his suspension and refused to let him join the other locked- out Nhlers who kept their engines running in Europe during the 2004- 05 season.
It could easily have been the end.
Coming back at 30 going on 31, a defensive liability with declining point production, his body starting to give out on him — back surgery in Florida, a neck injury in Detroit, a concussion in Anaheim, knee surgery in Calgary — Bertuzzi rapidly went from a pre- lockout all- star to a risky vagabond.
His one piece of luck ( or something) had come out of the blue ( sort of) from his old Canucks GM Brian Burke, fresh off a Stanley Cup in Anaheim: a two- year, $ 8- million contract in the summer of 2007 that was viewed in some quarters as merely foolhardy, but seen by others as a tacit expression of shared responsibility for the Moore tragedy.
Whatever the motives, Burke was never named by Bertuzzi, though coach Marc Crawford was, in a third- party lawsuit — since dropped — that sought to have the coach share the costs of a court award if the Moore family were to be successful, or even partly successful, in their $ 38- million civil suit against Bertuzzi and the Canucks.
That case goes to court Sept. 24.
It would have been Oct. 22, if Bertuzzi hadn’t been under contract to an NHL club for the 2012- 13 season, but the Red Wings handed him a two- year extension Wednesday at $ 2.2 million per season — and here’s where we get back to the premise of this column.
The Red Wings don’t make too many mistakes. Those who want to play for Mike Babcock have to play the 200- foot game, and Bertuzzi, in making a commitment to be more responsible defensively — not perfect, but better than he ever was before — has turned himself into an entirely justified Detroit reclamation project.
He is sort of a 15- goal, 40- point guy at this stage of his career, but still physical, skilled and, surprisingly, a plus- 21 this season: a valuable component in a good, multifaceted hockey club that has a specific need for the tools he brings to the rink.
In fact, when you think about it, Bertuzzi is exactly what his old team, the Canucks, keep looking for and may still be seeking at the trade deadline: a big, strong, mean, skilled winger who could play with the Sedin twins — as he plays sometimes with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in Detroit — or move down the lineup as necessary.
He’s what the Canucks hope Byron Bitz, if he’s physically able, or Dale Weise might evolve into, with a lot of luck and coaching.
But Bertuzzi’s evolution, 16 seasons and a wasted year’s worth, has already taken place.
If it hadn’t, the Wings wouldn’t have extended a guy who’s going to be 39 when the contract expires, and who’s going to court in September, with a very large bill likely hanging over his head when he comes back.
He will never stop paying for Steve Moore, one way and another.
The stigma will always be attached to his name.
But come next winter, chances are he’s going to need the proceeds of this second career, and a little more, besides.