There’s a cruel irony in Tyler Bertuzzi’s extended purgatory from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 28-year-old winger has logged seven seasons and 326 total games in the NHL ranks. Winning a Calder Cup in 2017 didn’t translate to future success at the next level, with the Red Wings mired in mediocrity throughout Bertuzzi’s lengthy tenure with the franchise.
But Bertuzzi’s extended absence from the postseason is not an indictment of his own play. After all, the pugnacious skater’s on-ice DNA is catered perfectly for the frenzied fracas set to play out over the next eight weeks.
“He’s a competitor,” Brad Marchand said of Bertuzzi following Boston’s Game 1 win over the Panthers on Monday.