Bertuzzi soars on Red Wings
By Ben Leeson, thesudburystar.com
When the Detroit Red Wings drafted Tyler Bertuzzi on Sunday, some may have raised eyebrows.
But perhaps not those who watched him raise hell for the Guelph Storm this past season.
Detroit plucked the scrappy Sudburian in the second round, 58th overall, of the seven-round draft, far earlier than most pundits had predicted.
“I didn’t think I was going to go that high,” said the 18-year-old left-winger, reached on Monday. “We were watching the draft show on TV and everyone was talking, but then they said, ‘from the OHL,’ and my dad’s eyes brightened up. Then they said, ‘from the Guelph Storm,’ and they said my name, and I was in shock.”
Tyler’s uncle, Todd Bertuzzi, is a left-winger for the Red Wings. He also played junior hockey for Guelph.
“He’s close to a lot of Detroit people, so he knows it’s a great organization for me to go to,” Bertuzzi said.
And while those bloodlines may have helped convince Detroit to draft him, it was his mix of skill, grit and ability to agitate that made the 6-foot, 180-pounder so attractive to Red Wings brass.
“He’s a bit of a rat,” Joe McDonnell, the Red Wings’ director of amateur scouting, told The Detroit Free Press. “He’s real hard to play against. He had some injuries sort of early and mid-season, and I think that a lot of teams, I don’t know if they really paid any attention to him later. He really took off near the end of the year. He’s just a real hard guy to play against, and that’s something we really wanted in the organization.”
Bertuzzi established himself as a willing combatant in 2011-12, his rookie season, but showed more of his skilled side as a sophomore in 2012-13. He missed much of the first half with a concussion, but returned to push his regular-season totals to 13 goals and nine assists.
He was even better in the playoffs, prompting Storm head coach Scott Walker to reward him with big minutes and a spot on the first power-play unit.
Bertuzzi believes it was that display of hockey chops, combined with his competitiveness, that put him over the top as a pro prospect.
“I always believe in myself and I knew that a team could get a steal if they drafted me,” Bertuzzi said.
“I spent about half the season hurt, but I think I showed a big improvement and I was able to show I could be dominant at the end of the year.
“At the start of last year, I was still fighting and everything, you know, just causing s–t. But toward the end of the season, I just started playing hockey. I had been injured and I didn’t want to fight, so I just started playing hockey.
