Eric Duhatschek
CALGARY — So naturally, your first thought is, what could they possibly be thinking?
How could the Calgary Flames, with their eyes wide open, possibly sign Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year contract with the NHL team? After all that happened — the Steve Moore incident and the persistent distraction that it had become; the decline in production, the injuries — after all that, how could the Flames assume the risk of putting Bertuzzi in their line-up next season, a year in which they legitimately think they can challenge for a Stanley Cup?
The official explanations will be coming later today, on a conference call with the general manager, Darryl Sutter, but let's start with a couple of threads that need to be pulled.
First off, there is the presence of coach Mike Keenan. Keenan was the man who, only two seasons ago, surrendered goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Vancouver Canucks in a package that netted him Bertuzzi. Last Friday, during that diatribe against Anaheim Ducks' general manager Brian Burke, Edmonton Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe said what a lot of people in the NHL had been muttering privately since that infamous transaction — that the Vancouver GM at the time, David Nonis, "conned" Keenan out of Luongo. Bertuzzi had a miserable time of it in Florida, playing only a handful of games because of injury, before going to the Detroit Red Wings as a rent-a-player for the 20006 playoffs. That moved turned out to be one of the few failures in Detroit general manager Ken Holland's otherwise impressive resume.
Nor did Bertuzzi have much a year last year, playing for Burke, the man who staunchly defended his actions in the Steve Moore incident — in which Bertuzzi came up behind the Colorado Avalanche player and rodeo-ed him to the ice. Moore hasn't played since — civil action in the case is still pending and came up a handful of times in the 40-point season Bertuzzi delivered for the Ducks last season in 68 games. Ten days ago, the Ducks bought out the final year of the two-year, $8 million contract they signed Bertuzzi to last summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Calgary signed to a one-year deal, for a comparatively modest salary. Clearly, the Flames — one of the most stubborn organizations operating in the NHL nowadays — were prepared to swim against the conventional tide on this signing and take a chance that Bertuzzi can help them as a top-six forward.
Bertuzzi's signing came a day after they lost Owen Nolan to the Minnesota Wild on a two-year contract. In some ways, Bertuzzi and Nolan share a lot of common personality traits — they are veteran power forwards, who can be moody and hard to get along with, depending upon how they rolled out of bed on a given morning. Nolan's departure, along with Kristian Huselius and Alex Tanguay, means three of last year's top-six forwards have moved on, leaving the team woefully thin on the wings, in terms of scoring. How thin? Well, if newly acquired Mike Cammalleri plays centre, something Keenan indicated at the draft he wants him to do, then the leading scorer among wingers after Jarome Iginla's 50 will be Bertuzzi's 14.
Iginla presumably had some say in the decision as well. The plan, for later today, is to put Bertuzzi and Iginla both on conference calls, to discuss the signing. Iginla and Bertuzzi played together on Canada's 2006 men's Olympic hockey team. It would be uncharacteristic of Iginla to say anything but the most welcoming words about the team's latest signing — and who knows? He might even believe them. Iginla signed a five-year, $35 million contract extension with Calgary because he wants to win a championship desperately at some point in his career. Given how the line-up of a team that couldn't get out of the first round even has evolved so far this summer, he presumably will believe that any help is better than nothing at all — even if it comes with weighty baggage and a strong sense among people around the NHL that Bertuzzi's best days are behind him, even though he is only 33.
In the official statement accompanying the signing, Sutter described Bertuzzi as
"a proven scorer with the ability to play both wings.
"He expressed to us that he wanted to play in Canada and that desire along with signing him to a one year deal was important to our philosophy. He wanted to play on a good team and it fit our money. Additionally, our captain, Jarome Iginla, was a strong supporter of Todd and wanted him on our team."
It was six years ago, in the 2001-02 season, that Bertuzzi chased Iginla and his former Canucks' teammate Marcus Naslund for the NHL scoring title. Iginla finished first with 96 points, Bertuzzi third with 85. Bertuzzi is slow by today's NHL standards, but Iginla's normal centre, Daymond Langkow, isn't exactly fleet of foot either. Once again, the operating philosophy in Calgary seems to be out of step with the rest of the league. As everyone else moves to young and fleet, Calgary continues to load up on experienced and physical. That's the polite way of putting it. It'll be up to Bertuzzi to prove he is more than just old, slow and cranky.
