Tyler Bertuzzi gaining admirers among Red Wings

He doesn’t tower over opponents like his famous uncle, but Tyler Bertuzzi is impressing his relative’s former teammates with his grit and hardiness.

Bertuzzi is building a fan club within the Detroit Red Wings, even as he took it upon himself to morph away from the type of player the Wings thought they drafted two years ago. Bertuzzi is off to an impressive exhibition season, having pumped four points into Thursday’s 6-1 victory over Pittsburgh, which included one goal and one nifty lob pass.

Bertuzzi is only 20 and needs more seasoning in the AHL with Grand Rapids, but he already has impressed veteran Wings and the coaching staff.

“He had a pretty sweet game, so good for him,” forward Johan Franzen said Friday. “He finds places and he is one of those guys who never quits on the puck he is always there and he is in the right spots, and the puck seems to find him. Good for him; he had a great game.”

Jeff Blashill compared Bertuzzi to Justin Abdelkader, saying Bertuzzi “is definitely a playoff-type player because he is hard on the puck, he goes to the net front hard, he is good in front of the goalie. He is a guy who can really complement a couple of skilled players because he has got a real high offensive ability. He thinks at a high level offensively, he has got good poise with the puck, but he does a lot of the hard things.

“I would compare him to Abdelkader, that is what I have seen from Tyler.”

Bertuzzi was a bonus from the 2013 NHL draft, made possible to take in the second round thanks to the extra pick the Wings acquired when they chanced that moving down two spots in the first round still would leave available their top target, Anthony Mantha (it did). Bertuzzi was drafted 58th overall. He is the nephew of Todd Bertuzzi, who, in his heyday with Vancouver, was the NHL’s premier power forward. Todd Bertuzzi spent his later years with the Wings and still lives in the Detroit area, where he coaches his son’s minor midget team.

Tyler Bertuzzi has fond memories of seeing his uncle play.

“When I was young, I would go see him in Vancouver all the time,” Bertuzzi said. “He was a big deal back then. Just being able to grow up and have him behind me, tell me what it is like to go through it all, it is a big help.”

It was young Bertuzzi himself who was responsible for his biggest growth as a player. After a string of injuries during his junior days, he decided to add dimension to his game and become a two-way player. His transformation blossomed last season, when he finished up his junior career in Sudbury (OHL) by producing 43 goals among 98 points in 68 games. He immediately turned pro and had seven goals among 12 points in 14 playoff games for the Griffins.

“He was a huge impact on us winning the Rockford series last year in round 2,” Blashill said. “Was a big player against Utica. In my eyes, he has matured off the ice and he is real serious about wanting to be a hockey player, and if he continues to be serious about wanting to be a hockey player, he will be a real good one.

“When we drafted him, it was the toughness, it was a little of fighting. Fighting is making its way more out of the game than its way in. I think, because of some injury stuff, he must have changed his emphasis.”

It came down to being tired of hurting. “After a few of my injuries,” Bertuzzi said, “I needed to put my game into a different level, because I wasn’t going to fight anymore. I didn’t want to get hurt anymore. I just focused a lot of my hockey on skills and how to contribute offensively and worked hard on it off the ice, and it paid off.”

The next challenge for Bertuzzi is how he fares when he is up against more NHL-vetted opponents. But everyone has to start somewhere, and Bertuzzi is giving the impression that he, one day, will be a regular at the Joe, going into corners and pestering opponents.

“He’s got a little bit of that feistiness to him, goes to dirty areas and does the dirty job,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “Strong in the corners. Good positionwise. It is going to be fun to watch him develop and, hopefully, he will be ready to play here soon.”

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