Top 50 Canucks players of all time: #10 – Todd Bertuzzi

Join us this summer as we count down the top 50 Vancouver Canucks players of all time! #10: Todd Bertuzzi

It’s hard to describe just how dominant and feared Todd Bertuzzi was during the early 2000s.

Any story about Bertuzzi’s time with the Canucks of course means we’ll be talking about the West Coast Express line as well. The trio of Bertuzzi, Brendan Morrison, and Markus Naslund saved the Canucks from one of the darkest periods in franchise history. Following the 94 Cup run and the debacle that was Mark Messier’s time as a Vancouver Canuck, the city’s interest in the Canucks began to seriously dwindle in the late 90s. The West Coast Express line put butts back in seats, and got the community excited about its NHL team once again.

At the forefront of this was Bertuzzi, a power forward in every sense of the word. Listed at 6’3, 229 lbs, Bertuzzi routinely embarrassed opposing players by simply steamrolling his way to the net. Despite that big frame, Bertuzzi was an agile skater, and was a solid puckhandler as well — especially while he was moving at high speeds.

Bertuzzi was part of the package the Canucks received from the New York Islanders in exchange for Trevor Linden back in 1998. Still just 22 years old, Bertuzzi had yet to break out as an everyday NHL player when the Canucks acquired him. Bertuzzi was limited to just 32 games in the 1998-99 season due to a fractured tibia and a torn ACL. He initially suffered the tibia fracture on November 1st, 1998, after being struck by a teammate’s shot. Later in the season, on March 5, 1999, he sustained a torn ACL in his left knee during a game.

The following season, however, Bertuzzi enjoyed his first real taste of individual success at the NHL level. While the 1999-2000 Canucks missed the playoffs, Bertuzzi finished fourth in team scoring with 25 goals and 25 assists through 80 games. He put up similar numbers the following season, and even added four points in four playoff games as the Canucks were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in round one of the playoffs.

In 2001-02, the legend of Bertuzzi and the West Coast Express really began, as Markus Naslund turned in his second 40+ goal season while Bertuzzi exploded for 85 points in 72 games. The Canucks finished the season second in the Northwest Division, but fell to the Detroit Red Wings in round one. Despite that, it was clear that there was a new era of exciting hockey in Vancouver.

2002-03 was even better, as Bertuzzi put up a career-best 46 goals and finished the year with 97 points, while Naslund finished second in Hart Trophy voting thanks to a 104-point campaign. We’ve hardly mentioned Brendan Morrison, who finished with 71 points of his own that season. The Canucks finished the regular season 4th in the Western Conference with a 45-23-13 record, earning 104 points before falling to the Minnesota Wild in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs.

Bertuzzi’s production began to decline in the 2003-04 season, which was the beginning of the end for an exciting time in Canucks history. The Bertuzzi-Moore incident has its own Wikipedia page, and by now, you all know that story. Bertuzzi was suspended for both the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, and the Canucks fell to the Calgary Flames in round one. The NHL lockout cancelled the 2004-05 season, and when Bertuzzi and the Canucks returned to play in 2005-06, things just weren’t the same for him or his West Coast Express teammates.

Bertuzzi’s Canucks tenure is obviously complicated, and has a real element of “what if” to it, considering how dominant he was as a player pre-lockout. Bertuzzi’s Canucks tenure came to an end when he was the key piece of the trade that saw the Canucks acquire Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers in the summer of 2006.

Bertuzzi never eclipsed the 20 goal mark again in his career.