2010-2011 Player Profiles: Todd Bertuzzi...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 27 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Todd Bertuzzi

2009-2010 Regular Season: 82 GP, 18-26-44, +/- -7, 80 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 12 GP, 2-9-11, +/- 4, 12 PIM

Season Highlight: That scoring streak he went on when nobody else could put the puck in the net.

Season Lowlight: Being Todd Bertuzzi.

Todd Bertuzzi made me yell at my TV screen a lot last season. His spin-o-ramas alone probably took a year off of my life. That being said, I was much less anti-Bert when he was signed this summer as compared to last year. I didn't really think he deserved a raise, but there weren't a whole lot of better options out there for the cap hit.

Bert somehow managed to escape the injury plague that struck the rest of the team last season, and with any luck, he'll keep that up. I'm hoping he'll benefit from a (hopefully) stable second line this season. He seemed to have some chemistry with Johan Franzen toward the end of the season last year and having consistent lines should help them build on that.

He led the team in penalty minutes in the regular season last year. While some of those were imaginary calls based entirely on the fact that his name is Todd Bertuzzi, he does take his share of lazy penalties. That's probably the biggest area in which I'd like him to improve. That, and driving to the net more. And if we could do something about those spin-o-ramas, that'd be fantastic now that I think about it.

What he needs to do to make me smile: Refrain from taking stupid penalties.