Todd Bertuzzi will never get the credit he might deserve again in his career simply due to people not liking the guy. It’s understandable considering the mistakes he has made in his career that he is not warm in the hearts of hockey fans, but what he has done this year has been a critical piece to the Flames winning puzzle. Sure, he only has 12 goals, but 4 of those have been game-winners, often with a few seconds left or in overtime. He also has at least one or two game-winners in shootouts that do not show up in the main goals account.
Simply put, Bertuzzi’s impact is lost in the box score. There are very few guys in the league who can shoot, pass, or skate like Bertuzzi can, and there isn’t another 230-pounder who can at all. These abilities make teams back off and be wary when Bertuzzi is free-wheeling in the offensive zone. It’s not as if you are going to knock him off the puck without excellent body position on him. He’s got a Godzillian reach, especially when he takes one hand off the stick to put the puck even further from the defensive player, and his 6′3″ frame between it. And then there is the fact that he can make the seemingly impossible pass off of his forehand or backhand. Back off too far and he’ll step in and shelf one on the goalie.
I’m not going to say this was a genius pickup. Bertuzzi has been on and off for several years, and there is always some risk with those typs of players. The point is that the unwatching follower will not see all of the missed opportunities Bertuzzi has created for himself (he could have 25 goals right now), but more importantly will not see the positive impact that he has when he is on the ice. As an added bonus, he has toned down the ridiculous 75-five-feet-from-the-puck penalties he seemed to take early in the year. For the Flames to be firing on all cylinders as they begin a run for the Stanley Cup, they can ill-afford to lose Bertuzzi.
Related posts:
- Key to Flames success: Less Sarich In the recent two-game winning streak that followed a horrendous...
- Bertuzzi dooms Flames’ chances I just got done talking about how great Bertuzzi has...
- Flames vs. Blackhawks – Game 1 The playoffs are covered in great depth and I’m not...
- Flames are better only as far as Kiprusoff goes. #flames After 41 games, the 24-12-5 Flames have allowed just...
- Flames open in disastrous fashion I remember seeing games like this last year, when the...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
One Comments to “Bertuzzi critical to Flames success”
[...] I just got done talking about how great Bertuzzi has been playing, and lauded him for his newfound discipline, and he comes out last night and throws a stinker of a game at the Dallas Stars. I hope that it was merely a matter of having some dead feet and being a little lazy, but one could make the argument that he cost them any chance at gaining some points. [...]