OT (Wings): Great old Jordin Tootoo article
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1029489/1/index.htm
There's the link. I gotta say, I'm starting come around on that signing. He's that hard-nosed guy nobody wants to play against, but you love on your own team. Hopefully, the veteran presence of Hank and Pav can keep him from taking too many bad penalties. And imagine a line of him, Miller, and Abdelkader. That would be an absolute bitch to play against. Until someone took a penalty I guess. But for those moments, it would be glorious!
+1'd for autocorrect's brilliance.
What you mean we are getting a dwarf that can spot planes?
Da Winged Wheel...Da Winged Wheel.
You hit the nail on the head about Bertuzzi and Detroit where fan objectivity takes a back seat. I often wonder what the MGoCoverage on Bertuzzi would be if he played for the Leafs. Anyway, Tootoo will be an immediate fan favorite for the Wings and I like the signing a lot.
Tootoo has the capacity to be a productive player. I hope Detroit is where he can set his career back on the trajectory it should be and that he can maintain whatever supports he needs to keep his health.
I don't think it's just a case of Red Wings fans being homers. Treading lightly here, but outside of a few people, everyone has just moved on from it. Bertuzzi has played incident free since then, and seemed to be genuinely sorry about what happened
I would agree, I was really not happy when the wings originally got him. It seemed like a departure from their norm. As you stated though he has played with no further problems. This has made me feel better about the whole deal.
That said, the issue of punishment is pretty much moot at this point though it will be interesting to see how Bertuzzi's fares with the court in Ontario. Certainly, his victim has not been able to move on and the damages Bertuzzi will pay will reflect the significance of his actions.
Ultimately, though, the reason I am hard on Bertuzzi (an apparently good guy by all reports) is that he authorized his lawyers to lowball the victim with a settlement offer that was far lower than one year of that individual's annual salary, let alone reflective of potential or career earnings.
It's cool to move on but only when you truly acknowledge responsibility.
I'd like to see him on a line with Helm and Miller. They all have a similar hard-work playstyle that could be great. I'd guess that Helm center a higher line though and you might end up with Miller, Tootoo and whoever the fourth line center would be at the time, probably Emmerton or Tatar.
I still think that they're not going to resign Abdelkader. Without him they still have plenty of left wings on the team; more if they have to shift people from center where they have too many. The Wings like covering their bases; when they traded for Quincey it was obvious that they were doing it pre-emptively to replace Stuart. I think similarly they signed Tootoo with the intent of not resigning Abdelkader.
Of course this all depends on the free agent market and trades. If the Wings end up not getting anything else they might resign Abdelkader just for a year, but I'd prefer they bring up some bodies from Grand Rapids to give the youngins some game experience.
i have stayed away from the computer too long as i have not even heard of the Wings signing him.
When did this happen?
First day of free agency; the Wings signed him, Samuelsson (he's baaaack), a goalie from Toronto and are giving a guy from Finland a 1-year tryout. I hope the last goes better than the Leino experiment.
i appreciate that.
I knew about the Samuelsson signing...not sure how the Tootoo one got past me.