Ducks sign Todd Bertuzzi
My dislike towards the Anaheim Ducks seems to be growing daily. First, they sign Mathieu Schneider and now Todd Bertuzzi. Both of them received more money than the Wings offered so you can’t say too many bad things about the two players leaving.
Unfortunately, Big Bert was our one shot at a physical forward. Now, we’ll probably sign a Slava Kozlov type, which is nice but not big or gritty.
Bertuzzi will receive $8 million over two years. With his back issues, I would not have signed him for over $3 million/year so I’m okay with him leaving for warmer weather.
This deal reunites Bertuzzi with former Vancouver GM Brian Burke.
It’s not surprising that Burke signed Bertuzzi, as he thought highly of the hulking power forward during their years together in Vancouver, standing up for “Big Bert” in the aftermath of his brutal blindsiding punch that forced former Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore into retirement. …
As for the Red Wings, they’re now in the market for a scoring winger, but after giving Brian Rafalski a $6 million per season contract and still trying to re-sign goalie Dominik Hasek, there won’t be much money available. GM Ken Holland will be checking out the UFA bargain bin.
Apparently, Bertuzzi’s agent actually called Brian Burke to see if there was any interest after Bertuzzi decided a deal wouldn’t get done with Detroit.
I just want to thank the Detroit Red Wings and Ken Holland, Scotty Bowman and Steve Yzerman and their whole staff. They’re a classy organization and I want to thank them
Right after it became apparent that nothing was going to be done with Detroit, I called my agent and asked if he could call Burkie and the Anaheim Ducks and see if there was any interest in acquiring me. Thankfully, there was the interest and here I am now.
It’s pretty special when you can get the defending Stanley Cup champions to find room to fit me in and to have the opportunity to play with Brian and this team.
You saw what an unbelievable rink it became during the playoffs. It’s an exciting time. It’s a fun place to play and I’m looking forward to it.
He also said in the link above that his back was fine during the playoffs, but he was suffering from a couple of other undisclosed injuries. I certainly will miss having a big gritty forward like Bertuzzi, but he’s too much of a risk for the Wings to take at 2 years, $4 million/year.
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5 Responses to “Ducks sign Todd Bertuzzi”
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July 3rd, 2007 at 2:29 am
I wish we could have kept him…but certainly not at that expense.
I’m even more glad we got those pucks last season now though!
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:22 am
Why won’t my Red Wing friends speak to me anymore?
July 4th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Steph- Thanks again for getting that puck! We’ll definitely miss Big Bert, but that’s a lot of salary for a health risk.
Earl- Hmm. I have no idea. Haha.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
[…] Anaheim also signed Todd Bertuzzi. The physical forward will see a payout of around $8 million over two seasons. [BtJ] […]
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
[…] other two players turned down Wings offers to go for the bigger money in Anaheim. Todd Bertuzzi signed a two year deal worth $8 million that paved the way for the Edmonton Oilers to snatch restricted free agent Dustin […]