Todd Bertuzzi '03-'04 season before Steve Moore incident

whcanuck

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May 11, 2017
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The Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incident has been talked about, analyzed and re-hashed over and over again. It ended Moore's career and obviously Bertuzzi was never the same either, never again reaching 30 goals or 75 points again.

As a Canucks fan, I remember he was suspended for 10 games real early in the '01-'02 season for leaving the bench to fight. The Canucks had made the playoffs the year before but had a really poor start in '01-'02. When Bertuzzi came back from suspension, they discovered the West Coast Express line with Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison, and Bertuzzi was suddenly the next great power forward. He finished '01-'02 with 36 goals and 85 points in just 72 games and then really blew the doors off the next year, scoring a monstrous 46 goals and 97 points en route to a first team all star selection.

But the 2003 playoffs was really lackluster for Bertuzzi and it was a rollercoaster ride for Naslund and the rest of the Canucks. Bert only scored 2 goals in 14 playoff games and his disappearing act (save for a real nice goal in game 7 against Minnesota) I thought was a big reason why the Canucks collapsed and lost to Minnesota (Dan Cloutier's play was the biggest reason IMO).

The next year in '03-'04 he was having a down year compared to the two previous seasons. He had a respectable 60 points in 69 games, but only 17 goals before the Moore incident...way down from the year prior. I think he even took a rare triple-minor penalty in the regular season and Crawford benched him. Things seemed to be going poorly with him ever since the 2003 playoffs. I don't buy the narrative that Vancouver beats Calgary in the first round with Bertuzzi...Iginla was playing at a level much higher than Bertuzzi was and Kiprusoff was also playing at a very high level.

So my question is this, was Bertuzzi already experiencing a career downturn that was only exacerbated by the Moore incident?
 
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c9777666

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as i always say, 04-bertuzzi before the moore debacle was the laziest most disgraceful performance by a non-bald canuck i’ve ever seen.

To borrow one of your lines from anoher thread, he had his mind on his money and his money on his mind- This was a contract year, but it did NOT motivate him ala Alexander Mogilny (whose 3 biggest goal-scoring years were contract years: 76 in BUF, 55 in VAN, 43 in NJD).

You'd think Bertuzzi going into a year before he had potential to get paid was going to put up similar numbers again, but nope.

Mogilny on a far less terrifying Canucks roster put up great numbers without a great center or winger.
 
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Sticks and Pucks

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Bertuzzi signed a contract extension in the first month of the season. I think with the new contract in place he probably felt he didn't need to try as hard anymore.
 

Big Phil

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I know that there was a crackdown on the one play that Bertuzzi was known for. He always did that push on the defenseman just before he would accept a pass right in the slot in front of the net. Think of it like offensive pass interference in the NFL. But that being said, it wouldn't have accounted for that much of a loss in numbers. Maybe 5 goals or so. In reality 60 points in 69 games was still on pace for around 75. Not bad for 2004 considering St. Louis led the NHL with 94 points that year and no one else had 90. So while he didn't hit 2003 levels, he was still pretty good.

The Moore thing just changed his game forever. He was well on his way to being on Team Canada for the 2004 World Cup.
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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82 was magic

94 was tragic


and the WCE crashed into a lake instead of going anywhere



Life of a canucks fan.



Life of a jets fan included forgetting to gas up then being impounded so I guess grass is always greener.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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In reality 60 points in 69 games was still on pace for around 75. Not bad for 2004 considering St. Louis led the NHL with 94 points that year and no one else had 90. So while he didn't hit 2003 levels, he was still pretty good.

as a superstar level talent at the height if his powers, bertuzzi could score 75 points in his sleeep, which he basically did in 2004.
 

streitz

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I'd pay good money to of seen Tkachuk and Bertuzzi fight(or Owen Nolan come to think of it). Three pseudo fake tough guys who sucked in the playoffs, would be good for a laugh.


Bert seems like less of a scumbag then the other two though.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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I'd pay good money to of seen Tkachuk and Bertuzzi fight(or Owen Nolan come to think of it). Three pseudo fake tough guys who sucked in the playoffs, would be good for a laugh.


Bert seems like less of a ******* then the other two though.

my all-star team of those dudes

tkachuk thornton bertuzzi
nash primeau nolan

though to be fair, rick nash doesn't even try to pretend to be tough. but as you suggest, in a fight bertuzzi would lick them all (not in the marchand way).
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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my all-star team of those dudes

tkachuk thornton bertuzzi
nash primeau nolan

though to be fair, rick nash doesn't even try to pretend to be tough. but as you suggest, in a fight bertuzzi would lick them all (not in the marchand way).


Sad thing is if Primeau wasn't drafted 3rd overall which gave him an ego he would of been a great 3rd liner or 2nd line center on a non top contender. Unlike the others he was actually decent defensively and didn't stop playing physical against the tougher teams(although his scoring completely disappeared).
 

GMR

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my all-star team of those dudes

tkachuk thornton bertuzzi
nash primeau nolan

though to be fair, rick nash doesn't even try to pretend to be tough. but as you suggest, in a fight bertuzzi would lick them all (not in the marchand way).
I'm pretty sure that Primeau would beat Bertuzzi handily in a fight. Or any of those players for that matter.
 

c9777666

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Aug 31, 2016
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Sad thing is if Primeau wasn't drafted 3rd overall which gave him an ego he would of been a great 3rd liner or 2nd line center on a non top contender. Unlike the others he was actually decent defensively and didn't stop playing physical against the tougher teams(although his scoring completely disappeared).

Suppose he fell a spot to Philly. Primeau might have gotten some 2nd/3rd line minutes behind Recchi
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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Suppose he fell a spot to Philly. Primeau might have gotten some 2nd/3rd line minutes behind Recchi


Wasn't he their 2nd line center behind Lindros briefly then Reonick? I actually watched a fair bit of philly during that era since they were one of the last entertaining teams in the DPE but they weren't exactly known for their depth.
 

c9777666

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Wasn't he their 2nd line center behind Lindros briefly then Reonick? I actually watched a fair bit of philly during that era since they were one of the last entertaining teams in the DPE but they weren't exactly known for their depth.

I meant he could have started his career with the Flyers (He was drafted one pick in 1990 before the Flyers)
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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I meant he could have started his career with the Flyers (He was drafted one pick in 1990 before the Flyers)


ooo, Completely misread your post. I'm pretty sure it would of been Ricci taken right after him(without looking it up) and Primeau likely would of been apart of the package for Lindros which would of put him in the same situation behind Foresberg and Sakic.
 

Canucks1096

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Feb 13, 2016
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To borrow one of your lines from anoher thread, he had his mind on his money and his money on his mind- This was a contract year, but it did NOT motivate him ala Alexander Mogilny (whose 3 biggest goal-scoring years were contract years: 76 in BUF, 55 in VAN, 43 in NJD).

You'd think Bertuzzi going into a year before he had potential to get paid was going to put up similar numbers again, but nope.

Mogilny on a far less terrifying Canucks roster put up great numbers without a great center or winger.

Mogilny 55 goals came in 1995/1996. His contract year was in 1996/1997 actually.
 

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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my all-star team of those dudes

tkachuk thornton bertuzzi
nash primeau nolan

though to be fair, rick nash doesn't even try to pretend to be tough. but as you suggest, in a fight bertuzzi would lick them all (not in the marchand way).

To be fair, Thornton was pretty tough and mean in the first part of his career. I will give you the whole "sucked in the playoffs" part and that he softened up later on. Blame Lindros for drilling him pretty badly in a fight in 2003 or 2004. He seemed to have lost a physical edge after that. But he was still not a fake tough guy though, just soft in the playoffs.
 
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MarkusNaslund19

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Dec 28, 2005
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I will disagree that we wouldn't have taken Calgary. Although I think missing Cloutier after game two played a big part. It seemed like Clouts was finally having his playoff redemption and then Crow skipped Hedberg and went to Auld which was curious.
 

EpochLink

Canucks and Jets fan
Aug 1, 2006
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I will disagree that we wouldn't have taken Calgary. Although I think missing Cloutier after game two played a big part. It seemed like Clouts was finally having his playoff redemption and then Crow skipped Hedberg and went to Auld which was curious.

That made no sense, Hedberg was playing great in the back up role but for some reason Crawford was "Auld is the future" drivel.
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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I will disagree that we wouldn't have taken Calgary. Although I think missing Cloutier after game two played a big part. It seemed like Clouts was finally having his playoff redemption and then Crow skipped Hedberg and went to Auld which was curious.



Even though Bertuzzi was never great in the playoffs that series was so close without him. Those canucks teams had alot of deadweight on their bottom lines in the WCE years. Even if Bertuzzi only scored like 1 or 2 goals and threw a couple big hits in those 7 games it might of been enough to sway that series.



Those Canucks were one of the only non Avs/Wings teams to play an up tempo game during those years so I actually watched a fair amount of the WCE. Surprisingly considering how mentally soft alot of their better players were most of their series during that era were real nail biters with the exception of them getting swept by the avs.



Also that Wild series in 03 was boring, mostly because of the Wild.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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Even though Bertuzzi was never great in the playoffs that series was so close without him. Those canucks teams had alot of deadweight on their bottom lines in the WCE years. Even if Bertuzzi only scored like 1 or 2 goals and threw a couple big hits in those 7 games it might of been enough to sway that series.

problem is, if bertuzzi plays in that series then cooke isn’t on the top line. and the addition of cooke to that line post-steve moore gave them a sense of purpose, desperation, and not-about-to-crap-your-pantsness they never had in the playoffs before.
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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problem is, if bertuzzi plays in that series then cooke isn’t on the top line. and the addition of cooke to that line post-steve moore gave them a sense of purpose, desperation, and not-about-to-crap-your-pantsness they never had in the playoffs before.


That's a good point but I still have a hard time thinking that Bertuzzi in the lineup instead some of the plugs they had that didn't produce any offense. Just looking at that 03/04 roster there's a bunch of guys I hardly even remember. Old Rucinsky, Artem Chubarov? Old Mike Keane, old Geoff Sanderson then of course guys like May and Ruutu who were entertaining but clowns.


Even Linden had 0 points that series, unusual for him.
 

tony d

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Jun 23, 2007
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Bertuzzi had 60 pts. in 69 games that yr. Not bad #'s given the era but not as impressive as his previous 2 seasons. He had a good 2005-2006 season but once he left Vancouver his #'s went down and the best of his career was over.
 

Eye of Ra

Grandmaster General of the International boards
Nov 15, 2008
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i saw 2 of canadas games from olympics 2006 with bertuzzi on it last week, i had them on my computer and bertuzzi was hitting anything that moved...and the players he hit where flying...he crushed them. its a myth that his physciality went away after the moore-incident...
 

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