Gary Bettman:
The total suspension of approximately seventeen (17) calendar months from the date of the incident is the appropriate sanction to impose in this case given the nature and severity of the act in question and the overall totality of circumstances…Mr. Bertuzzi is immediately eligible for reinstatement for play in the NHL.
For those of you who don’t remember, Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for his vicious attack on Steve Moore on March 8, 2004. Well, he’s been reinstated effective immediately.
This means he’s back in action with the Canucks. With luck Bertuzzi’ll get his act together and help the Canucks in their quest for the Stanley Cup. The season looks bright, with the recent signings of Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison. Now they just have to re-sign the rest of their core players, like the Sedin twins, Mattian Ohlund, and Dan Cloutier.
This also means he’ll be eligible for the Olympics, when the Canadian national team will go on and win gold again.
#1 by Rick Barnes (Kelowna BC) on 08 August 2005 - 1:28 pm
This is great news, I am thrilled to have Todd back!
#2 by Tim on 09 August 2005 - 2:27 am
So, let me get this straight. He gets banned for an entire season that never actually existed. So he hasn’t actually missed many games at all. And this was deemed to be suitable punishment???
#3 by brad on 09 August 2005 - 9:42 am
The NHL commissioner said that because he was suspended during the non-existant season, he was unable to make a living by playing hockey in Europe (the International Ice Hockey Federation honours NHL suspensions) like 400 other NHL players did last year, which was effectively a banning from hockey. He pled guilty in criminal court and received a conditional sentence (80 hours of community service and I think he’s got a year of probation), and he’s currently got a civil case against him. He actually missed something like 17 games, 13 of which were playoff games, and his absence probably directly contributed to the Canucks not making it farther. He lost about a half million dollars in salary due to the suspension, and reputedly lost about $350,000 in endorsement deals. The commissioner looked at all of these factors and decided that all that was considered suitable punishment.