Should Todd Bertuzzi been banned for life?

[Jason MacIsaac]

Maybe they did get the phantom interference call wrong, but there's still no reasonable path from a missed interference call to everything that Bertuzzi and the Canucks did in response. Or should every team that feels that a call was missed get to end someone's career?

Intent was the same for both players, Moore saw it as a chance to scramble Naslunds brain and Bertuzzi saw it as a chance to make Moore fight him.

 

[IndustryLeech]

Intent was the same for both players, Moore saw it as a chance to scramble Naslunds brain and Bertuzzi saw it as a chance to make Moore fight him.

Absolute nonsense. One was a legal hit in an actual hockey play, the other was pre-meditated assault after a game ended. Stop it.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

Intent was the same for both players, Moore saw it as a chance to scramble Naslunds brain and Bertuzzi saw it as a chance to make Moore fight him.

Moore had a split second to react to Naslund coming at him, and leaned in. Bertuzzi waited 3 weeks for his vengence, and then tried to challenge a guy 40 lbs lighter to his 2nd fight in a game, just to beat him up, and then stalked him up the ice when he refused the automatic 1 game suspension, and punched him in the side of the head and drove him into the ice. Intent was very much not the same, not even close.

 

[DANOZ28]

if common sense doesn't work ask yourself if you were steve moore was justice served?

 

[8LX7psQ]

Any chance you can quote me rather than trying to build a straw man? I've never called it a "pre meditated neck breaking", and have literally said earlier in this thread that the end result of Moore breaking his neck wasn't Bertuzzi's intention.

Wasn’t building a straw man. Was pointing out how laughably biased you’ve been in this thread. I’ve been reading all your posts with the voice of Lionel Hutz..

 

[Spazkat]

Calm down Tex. It was the dirtiest play in the NHL last year and it shows that the NHL doesn't take blatant cheapshots any more seriously than it did when Bertuzzi did it.

For that matter much of Max Domi's early career consisted of "fights" that were primarily him jumping unsuspecting/unwilling players and going apeshit on them. I don't seem to recall this level of outrage for any of that

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

Wasn’t building a straw man. Was pointing out how laughably biased you’ve been in this thread. I’ve been reading all your posts with the voice of Lionel Hutz..

I'm biased against guys getting assaulted during hockey games. There's no place for that in professional sports.

 

[WingsMJN2965]

if common sense doesn't work ask yourself if you were steve moore was justice served?

Well, Todd was never going to have any serious criminal ramifications, so technically, his being allowed to make $35M more over his career was a civil windfall for Moore.

 

[treple13]

In recent years, both Duncan Keith and Evgeni Malkin have literally swung their stick at another player's head, which to me is worse than what Bertuzzi did. They both got lucky the results weren't as bad.

So should Malkin and Keith have been banned for life?

 

[DANOZ28]

Well, Todd was never going to have any serious criminal ramifications, so technically, his being allowed to make $35M more over his career was a civil windfall for Moore.

i dont remember how much of that did moore receive?

 

[WingsMJN2965]

i dont remember how much of that did moore receive?

I believe the settlement was confidential, but he asked for roughly $68M.

My guess would be probably anywhere from $5M to $20M, maybe?

EDIT: A Reddit thread claims there was a news story that said $15M from the NHL and $7M from Bertuzzi, The Canucks, and Jon McCaw. But I have no idea how true that is.

 

[ElysiumAB]

Why does Bertuzzi deserve a second chance, while Moore isn't capable of having the same chance due to Bertuzzi's decisions? Shouldn't the punishment fit the crime? Or does saying sorry make up for permanently injuring someone, altering their life forever, and ending their NHL career?

The punishment should fit the act, not the unusual and improbable result of the act. I'm sure many people in this thread have said the same - you can't punish based on injury.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

The punishment should fit the act, not the unusual and improbable result of the act. I'm sure many people in this thread have said the same - you can't punish based on injury.

If that's the rule, why exactly was Steve Moore punished for a clean hit? Seems that he was punished for the "unusual and improbable result of the act" and not the act of hitting someone while playing hockey. You can't have it both ways.

 

[ElysiumAB]

If that's the rule, why exactly was Steve Moore punished for a clean hit? Seems that he was punished for the "unusual and improbable result of the act" and not the act of hitting someone while playing hockey. You can't have it both ways.

I'm not implying that the league does anything correctly or consistently.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

I'm not implying that the league does anything correctly or consistently.

The league had nothing to do with Steve Moore's punishment. Bertuzzi chose to punish Steve Moore based on the result of the hit (Naslund getting hurt), not the act (a clean hit), so why shouldn't we apply that same standard to him?

 

[DFC]

Hindsight makes things look worse, because, since the Bertuzzi incident, we haven't seen that kind of thing much. But at the time it happened, even though the NHL was getting less violent, muggings weren't unheard of. They happened. This one happened and had a terrible result, which sparked A LOT of change in the NHL. But you have to judge the act in the context of his time. The Bertuzzi incident showed us how dangerous muggings could be in the new NHL, with bigger, stronger, faster athletes. So we can't look at it through today's lens, where nothing like this ever happens. At the time, it wasn't happening every night, but it wasn't exactly Not Happening either.

 

[ElysiumAB]

The league had nothing to do with Steve Moore's punishment. Bertuzzi chose to punish Steve Moore based on the result of the hit (Naslund getting hurt), not the act (a clean hit), so why shouldn't we apply that same standard to him?

You're implying that an NHL enforcer should judge and punish a hit/injury the same way the league should penalize one, and whoever "we" is?

Oof.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

What did bertuzzi end up having to pay in the settlement?

 

[Pinkfloyd]

A guy does something premeditated and illegal that ended another player's career? Yeah, I wouldn't have felt bad if Bertuzzi was banned for life for that incident. A legitimate season long suspension for Bertuzzi should've been the minimum for him in that situation, imo.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

What did bertuzzi end up having to pay in the settlement?

I don't think it was ever released but it was speculated to be 20 million between Bertuzzi and the NHL to Moore.

 

[HFBS]

Everyone talks about Bertuzzi but this is forgotten. Matt Johnson sucker punches Jeff Beukeboom for no reason, no warning completely from behind. Ended Beukeboom's career. Johnson punishment? Suspended 12 games. 12 f***ing games! At least Bertuzzi could play. Johnson was a worthless piece of f***ing shit who never broke 10 points in a season. My most hated player of all time - and that covers a lot of territory.

Looking at the internet it seems that Johnson is now homeless and a mental case. I'm sure Jeff Beukeboom has too much class to be happy about that. But not me.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

You're implying that an NHL enforcer should judge and punish a hit/injury the same way the league should penalize one, and whoever "we" is?

Oof.

Which enforcer are you referring to? Bertuzzi was a PPG+ player the two years prior to the assault, including being the 5th highest scoring player in the NHL in 2002-03. Should one of the top players in the league not be expected to know better than a rookie with < 70 games on his resume? Is that really the side you're taking on this?

 

[Dump Itch]

Well obviously BOTH go into consideration.

Just like the real word, the punishments is worse if it shoot a gun and kill someone rather than shoot a gun and the guy makes a full recovery in a couple months. Is the NHL a fake world where the results don't matter from the action?

What if that couple months takes 5 -10 years? Will the punishment be the same if someone takes months vs years to recover?
I also ask, should someone be punished "more" for what they did in the past?
In this case. Bertuzzi was already punished and served his time. Shall he be additionally punished?

 

[sabremike]

If Dale Hunter didn't get banned from the NHL for life plus 10 years than I don't think such a thing is even possible.

 

[Laveuglette]

In recent years, both Duncan Keith and Evgeni Malkin have literally swung their stick at another player's head, which to me is worse than what Bertuzzi did. They both got lucky the results weren't as bad.

So should Malkin and Keith have been banned for life?

They should have been suspended for much, much longer than they were imo. No place for this in the NHL. It's criminal and not justified in any way by the game.