His IQ isn't that high, he's more of what Babcock wanted Abdelkader to be: The piano puller. dude goes to the dirty areas and fights for position/the puck. He's taken a lot of hits, cross checks, and the like. Someone whose already had what can only be called major, life altering surgery, at the very young age of 26, shouldn't be expected to return to full form, and definitely not for a long period.
Also, its becoming clear Bertuzzi sees himself elsewhere after this contract. Which is fine, the team has better options at wing in the top 6 in the system.
Well, I don't really have anything with which to back this up, but I vehemently disagree with the statement bolded above. I think a high hockey IQ, playing well away from the puck to put himself in the right place at the right time, is his biggest asset.
And he's no Justin Abdelkader -- Abdelkader's arms are the size of Bertuzzi's legs, and Abby's legs are the size of Lil Bert's trunk. Bertuzzi is more of an electronic keyboard mover, than a piano mover.
And of course Bertuzzi is much more gifted offensively than Abby. jkutswing's comparison of Abby's best year out of Abby's entire career, versus Bert's best year out of the first third of his career, doesn't take into account that number of seasons, or the fact that most of Abby's goals that year bounced off of Abby's ass or forehead as Datsyuk used Abby as an object -- a mannequin in a Red Wings jersey would have served the same purpose.
I do agree that Bertuzzi goes to the dirty areas and fights for position, but I don't see him taking that much damage. Again, he's smart and avoids a lot of injuries.
And I also agree that Bertuzzi probably wouldn't mind a trade. I think a guy like him can tolerate only so much losing.
Re. better options at wing: I have yet to see those options. Vrana, certainly. Raymond has zero NHL points. Zadina has 37 points in 86 games -- not bad, but not nearly as productive as Bertuzzi, not yet. That's it, one guy who's better, two others that might be better some day, for 4 positions (top 6 wing).
The day we trade Bertuzzi, we become a worse team, unless we get a deal like we got for Mantha, where we get a younger player better than the guy we traded, plus a first round pick.