Big Bert leaves Griffith Way
Friday, June 23, 2006

Posted by Kerrzy

Todd Bertuzzi and Roberto Luongo were two of the most talked about tradeable players for some time now, and as of Friday night, the two have swapped teams in the first big trade of the NHL off-season. Bertuzzi, along with Bryan Allen and goaltender Alex Auld became members of the Florida Panthers Friday night in exchange for goalie Roberto Luongo and defenseman Lukas Krajicek. Now, the question is: will Todd Bertuzzi have the type of season that Dany Heatley had after his move from Atlanta and regain his form of the pre-Steve Moore era? I think so. When Dany Heatley got out of Atlanta after his big car accident, he ripped it up in Ottawa. Todd Bertuzzi is a good player, and moving from somewhere like Vancouver to a place like Florida gives him nothing but opportunity to turn his game around and get himself back into a position where is he is considered one of the elite players in the league.

In Vancouver this past year Bertuzzi was always under a microscope not only because of his poor production on the Canucks first line, but also because the Steve Moore thing never went away, and in fact, kept resurfacing constantly.

One example that sticks out is the lawsuit that Moore’s lawyers filed on the first day of the Olympics after Team Canada’s first game, where Todd Bertuzzi was easily the most dominant player on the ice.

Just as he started to regain that killer form that he once had, a multi-million dollar lawsuit took the gas out of his tank.

Hate him or love him, you’ve got to feel for the guy.

As far as Roberto Luongo, this will be a true test for him. Sure, he played well in Florida during his tenure there as the number one goalie, but moving to Vancouver presents him with a whole new set of pressures.

For instance: if Florida made the playoffs this season, it would have been a bonus; if Vancouver misses the playoffs again next year, someone else’s head will be on the chopping block and it may very well be his.

It’ll be interesting to see how both of these guys do with their new clubs, but overall I would rate this as a good move for both teams, minus Vancouver giving up Auld instead of Cloutier…then again, Florida probably didn’t want him.

Moral of the Story: Look out for some big moves tomorrow, like Pittsburgh trading away their top pick to Carolina for Jack Johnson so that the ‘Canes can pick up Jordan Staal.