oh my god.
really??
i thought, for sure, he was back to top form, flying up and down the ice, scoring every other shift, using his body to take down the opposing team, easily earning his multi-million dollar contract, in the best shape of his life.

no?
huh.  go figure.  must be that back of his. 
just glad that the mighty ducks will take a cap hit for their mistake.

Posted by ColdWar on 06/27/08 at 11:27 AM ET

looks like taking less to stay with the wings last year may have not have been a bad idea after all…

HA-ha

Posted by Jdunc from Flint, MI on 06/27/08 at 11:37 AM ET

I think buying out Bertuzzi would cost about $2.67 million (2/3 of $4 million, right?). It doesn’t seem like that will save them enough to keep Perry and resign Selanne (if he comes back as expected now that Niedermayer is staying). I wonder if the proverbial other boot—a Schneider trade—is about to drop? Maybe Burke can swing a deal with Toronto, so he can see Schneids when he gets there. 

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 06/27/08 at 11:38 AM ET

And the Burke-Bertuzzi love affair comes to an end.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 06/27/08 at 11:40 AM ET

So, he’s available for Detroit to sign for cheap, then?

*ducks and runs out of room laughing* 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/27/08 at 11:43 AM ET

Probably the worst free agent signing of 2007. Never understood why anybody would want this washed up stiff especially the Ducks. His interest and skills have long since evaporated.

Posted by kevin from boston on 06/27/08 at 11:48 AM ET

And just like that, the West Coast Express is officially off the rails. Who would’ve guessed that the best line in hockey five years ago would all be without contracts and on the lamb?

Even Cloutier and Crawford are without jobs. The only star from those Canucks who still has legs in the league is Jovanovski.

Posted by Timothy on 06/27/08 at 11:54 AM ET

What are the chances of the MSM proclaiming the Wings picking him up as a “reclamation project?”

BTW, that’s just getting f*cking annoying now:  “Wings’ reclamation project.”

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/27/08 at 11:55 AM ET

I bet Naslund and Bert go to the same team this summer…

Posted by Karina on 06/27/08 at 11:58 AM ET

With Naslund about to leave Vancouver, these two can finally be together again. Why not sign in Toronto where they can both be wingers centered by Steve’s brother Dominic? That way, everything will be confusing and potentially awful all at once AND the Leafs will still suck.

I say win/win.

Posted by Mike from NYC on 06/27/08 at 12:01 PM ET

...and, oh ya, Morrison is a FA too. It’s an entire “reclamation” line a GM looking to get fired.

Posted by Mike from NYC on 06/27/08 at 12:03 PM ET

Mike, you may as well throw Cloutier in too!

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 06/27/08 at 12:18 PM ET

Paul - Deal! In fact, I’ll do you one better - Alex Auld can back Clouts up.

If we chuck in some defensemen FA’s like Marek Malik, Nolan Baumgartner or Rory Fitzpatrick (or heck Cullimore, Strudwick and Brookbank count if you go back far enough) then you have an entire line of ex-Canucks available.

Do I even bother pointing out Cooke, Ruutu, Gelinas and Brashear are FA wingers too? Pretty sure you could literally assemble the heart of the 1999-2003 Canucks with very little effort come Tuesday next week

Again…assuming you’re a GM who wants to get canned.

Posted by Mike from NYC on 06/27/08 at 12:32 PM ET

LOL!

I’m almost half-expecting Alanah to chime in aaaannny second now.

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/27/08 at 12:35 PM ET

SYF, She probably would have, but she is taking it easy today after a hectic few weeks around here.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 06/27/08 at 12:37 PM ET

Thanks, Paul.  I’m assuming she’s taking that Caribbean cruise with Roberto Luongo, right?

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/27/08 at 12:44 PM ET

And the Burke-Bertuzzi love affair comes to an end.

That is until Burke becomes GM of the Maple Leafs…then they can renew their vows.

Posted by HockeyJoe from NY on 06/27/08 at 12:44 PM ET

Geez, I am afraid if Alanah does read this she may want to start her own franchise!

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 06/27/08 at 12:53 PM ET

LMAO!!!

Can you imagine how much time and money she’ll spend with that Blackberry she’s debating on getting?

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 06/27/08 at 12:59 PM ET

I think buying out Bertuzzi would cost about $2.67 million (2/3 of $4 million, right?).

Nope.  His remaining salary is $2 million (He had a 2-year $4million deal), therefore it will cost about $1.34 million, and the cap hit will be $517,000 for 2 years if I did the math right.  The calculations is explained here: http://www.nhlscap.com/cap_faq.htm#buyouts

Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 06/27/08 at 01:06 PM ET

I say the Wings claim Big Bert off waivers and then trade him to Florida for, oh, I don’t know, maybe Shawn Mattias.

As for the Ducks’ cap hit, I believe it would be 2/3 of $4,000,000 ($2,668,000) spread over twice the remaining term of his current contract (one year). So the Ducks will take a $1,334,000/year hit. It’s not huge but it still causes them some problems…which makes me sooooooo sad.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/27/08 at 01:06 PM ET

And some people had the gall (read: stupidity) to claim that Brian Burke was the best GM in the league earlier last season.

Give me a break.

I believe that Burke has been wildly overrated. I realize he saved a hurting Canucks organization after they went into free fall mode coming out of 1994. But look at his big draft with the Sedin twins alone—a better duo would’ve been Erat and Zetterberg, and they both came at the end of the draft! I just think it’s odd that he is revered by many for his work in Vancouver, but the fact is, didn’t his teams only get out of the first round one time? Didn’t they let him walk after his contract expired? And while he certainly left the team in better shape than it was in when he took over, how much better is a team made to lose in the first round year after year?

With the Ducks, how impressive has he been? This article shows one of his mistakes.

The man allowed Scott Niedermayer to hamstring his team and screw up his cap space. Bertuzzi was incredibly overpaid, as was Schneider. Who can afford to overpay a free agent when you know you’ve got contracts to take care of involving Getzlaf and Perry (else risk going from a one-line team to a no-line team) and a newly imposed salary cap?

Even when they won the Cup, wasn’t in Murray that was responsible for all the young talent that made the difference? Kunitz, Perry, Getzlaf, and Lupul were all from Murray. Granted, Lupul was traded, but he was one of the assets that allowed Burke to get Pronger. And I’m sorry, but if you’ve got the money, and the guy’s available, it’s a no-brainer to sign Scott Neidermayer.

I will give Burke credit for winning the Cup, but you have to give a lot of credit to the foundation that Murray left behind. The biggest thing I credit Burke for is bringing Carlyle in. I think he’s a great coach.

I guess we’ll see what will happen this year, but the media jumped the gun. As a GM, I think you need to turn the trick repeatedly before you can be considered the best in the league, especially when there are multi-Cup winners still in the league, and still winning, in Lou Lamoriello and Ken Holland.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 06/27/08 at 01:08 PM ET

Woops, OTC, you’re right.  I was mistaken thinking they were paying him 2 per year instead of 4, wow that’s ridiculous for a guy like that.

Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 06/27/08 at 01:08 PM ET

Jeff, we both have the formula right, but Bert’s salary is $4M for the upcoming season. His deal was for two years at $4M each.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/27/08 at 01:09 PM ET

Ooooo, fun, Jeff. Simultaneous posting. Ready set. Go!

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/27/08 at 01:10 PM ET

Nathan—
Shhhhhh! You might stop Toronto from hiring him if you keep pointing out his mistakes.

OTC & NHLJeff—
I had basically the same result (about $1.33 million for two years), then talked myself into thinking it was over the term instead of over 2X the term. I guess that should be a lesson for me to never listen to myself.

Thanks for the correction.

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 06/27/08 at 01:56 PM ET

Woops, OTC, you’re right.  I was mistaken thinking they were paying him 2 per year instead of 4, wow that’s ridiculous for a guy like that.

Yup, $4 million per.

I remember that Lang signed with Chicago at about the same time - I commented that $4 million a year must be the going rate for ex-Wings forwards.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/27/08 at 01:57 PM ET

Geez, I am afraid if Alanah does read this she may want to start her own franchise!

Well, Paul, I do recall her saying something about you getting her a very nice gift for all of her hard work.

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 06/27/08 at 01:58 PM ET

With Naslund about to leave Vancouver, these two can finally be together again. Why not sign in Toronto where they can both be wingers centered by Steve’s brother Dominic? That way, everything will be confusing and potentially awful all at once AND the Leafs will still suck.

I say win/win.

lol

Posted by mudshark from Bowels of 15th Street, Divetown, CO on 06/27/08 at 02:15 PM ET

Burke’s terrible at drafting, but great when he has a stocked cabinet. Acquiring pronger, nabbing scott niedermayer (although, granted, that was precipitated by a different gm grabbing the “other” niedermayer). Dealing fedorov for beauchemin and, essentially, marchant was a great move.
shipped out sykora because petr didn’t fit into his team mold. letting vishnevski go after a perceived overpay at arbitration.

Taking a risk on selanne after the absolutely terrible colorado experiment. And, while he didn’t acquire perry getzlaf or penner, he brought them along beautifully. and he actually DID get kunitz, when you consider chris was momentarily an atlanta thrasher because burke waived him before reclaiming him after atlanta tried to send him down. :p

As for the bertuzzi, yeah, that blew up in his face. Schnieder, on the other hand, I don’t think was as bad an error. At the time schnieder was signed as if he’d have to play a 1B roll to pronger, and the money’s right for that. Even with niedermayer coming back schnieder was pretty impressive. He only played in 65 games because of injuries, but he put up 39 points. You look at the defensemen statistics, and only two players recorded both more points AND a better plus minus. (Rafalski and Lidstrom, of course).

Sure, he feasted on pretty weak competition during the second half of the year, but he was plenty effective while scott niedermayer was out.

In any case, I don’t think burke’s overrated, exactly. I think people misinterpret the things at which he excels. Obviously he isn’t so great at buying the produce, but he can cook a damn fine meal if somebody else does the shopping.

As an aside, you mentioned how scott niedermayer hamstrung burke cap-wise. He built a convenient little ‘out-clause’ in the roster. After this year, I think the only players still signed will be Getzlaf, Perry (presumably), JS, Pronger, and Carter. A decent little core for whomever his successor happens to be.

There’s also his apparent hatred for euros, but I’ll leave that one alone.

Posted by Schmidt on 06/27/08 at 02:30 PM ET

Obviously he isn’t so great at buying the produce, but he can cook a damn fine meal if somebody else does the shopping.

I’d guess that’s why Nonis is now back at his side in a loosely defined consultant’s role with an “EZ-Break” contract.

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 06/27/08 at 02:38 PM ET