Red Wings sign Bertuzzi to one-year deal

Yesterday I had an article started that discussed the possible return of Todd Bertuzzi to the Red Wings.  As I was writing, it was announced that they had signed Bertuzzi to a 1-year deal.  I have not been a fan of Todd Bertuzzi over the years, even previous to the stick swinging incident were he ended Steve Moore’s career. The hatred started when he was on Vancouver, looking back it was probably because of my dislike for Brian Burke will still exists to this day. Since the incident with Moore, Bertuzzi has been a shell of his former self due to injury and I would guess the 18 month layoff (suspension combined with the lock-out) from the NHL didn’t help either.

When the Wings traded for Bertuzzi during the 2006-07 season, I was supremely skeptical which was not really going out on a limb, he had been injured the entire season with the exception of 7 games because of a pretty serious back injury. Once on the Wings, he played 8 games before the end of the season, only scoring twice.  He was even less impressive in the Playoffs when they eventually lost to the Ducks, when he had only 7 points in 16 games, and was even less of a physical presence than expected because of his continuing back injury.

The Red Wings are working to replace the offense they lost when Marian Hossa (40 goals, 31 assists), Mikael Samuelsson (19 goals, 21 assists), Jiri Hudler (23 goals, 34 assists) and Tomas Kopecky (six goals, 13 assists) accepted offers from other teams. With the cap hit that Bertuzzi is bringing, the signing makes sense in a low risk and high reward scenario. The word from the Wings is that he is fully recovered from his injury and  is in great shape.

In a phone interview with Bertuzzi on Tuesday, he stated he is glad to back with the Wings, “To be honest with you, I didn’t want to leave, but with what Anaheim did (offering a two-year deal), I had to go there. But at the same time, I always loved Detroit. You can’t find a better organization. My family is pretty happy and excited.”

In the same conference call Vice President/General Manger Ken Holland stated, “Todd Bertuzzi gives us size, he can play on any of the top three lines. He shoots left, he’s probably most comfortable as the off-wing on the right side. But he’s a big power forward and he can play with skill guys.”

After the end of the season the success of this signing will hinge on the obvious of whether or not Bertuzzi can stay healthy. If he can stay healthy and play like the Bertuzzi of old, he will bring a physical presence to the team that will be lacking with the exodus of Hossa.

Tomorrow will be the first of the Central Division previews!

My name is David Swartzlander check me out on Twitter @octopusthrower