Red Wings re-sign Todd Bertuzzi

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DETROIT -- Todd Bertuzzi has revitalized his career with the Detroit Red Wings, finding a good fit on the ice -- and perhaps restoring his reputation, too.

Bertuzzi

The Red Wings signed the 37-year-old forward Thursday to a two-year contract worth a little more than $4 million, just hours before hosting Vancouver, one of his former teams.

"He likes it here and we like having him here," Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. "He's been a good player for us, giving us around the mid-40s in points. He's a big guy with skills hard to find in one player."

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound forward has 12 goals and 29 points going into the game against the Canucks. In all, he had 301 career goals and 742 points with the Red Wings, Canucks, New York Islanders, Anaheim, Calgary and Florida.

He has bounced back in his second stint with the Red Wings, contributing 45 points last year and 44 the season before that. The talented team counts on Bertuzzi in shootouts. He has scored four goals on six attempts in shootouts, including a team-high three to win games.

Bertuzzi has slowly put his most infamous act behind him.

On March 8, 2004, while playing for Vancouver, Bertuzzi sucker-punched Colorado's Steve Moore in the head in one of hockey's ugliest episodes. He served a 17-month suspension after hitting Moore and driving him face-first into the ice and breaking three vertebrae in his neck.

Moore has not played hockey since.

A few years later, Bertuzzi was first acquired by the Red Wings in a trade deadline deal with the Panthers in exchange for center Shawn Matthias and a second-round pick, when a back injury was stunting his ability to play and produce.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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