The goals came first, three of them for Tyler Bertuzzi in the Red Wings' win over the Wild Saturday night. Then came the hats, just a few of them falling onto the ice in Minnesota -- along with a spare octopus -- but enough to salute a major milestone in the 23-year-old's NHL career. And then came the flood of texts, his phone blowing up like it only had twice before: the night he was drafted and the night he scored his first NHL goal.
It was the former occasion, June 30th, 2013, that Bertuzzi reflected on when he finally found a quiet moment Saturday night, when the interviews were finished and the texts were answered. The draft that year was held at the Prudential Center in New Jersey. Bertuzzi didn't go, because he didn't expect to be picked all that high. He certainly didn't expect to be picked by the Red Wings. Only "a couple" teams had talked to him in advance of the draft, he said, and the Wings weren't one of them.
While the headliners were in the building that night -- the Nathan MacKinnons and the Alexsander Barkovs, dressed in suits and ready to shake hands with Gary Bettman -- Bertuzzi was at home with his family, watching the event unfold on TV.
With the 58th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, the Detroit Red Wings select...Tyler Bertuzzi.
"I honestly didn't think I was going to go that high," Bertuzzi said on Monday. "But they took a chance on me and I'm happy they did."
The way Jeff Blashill -- then the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins -- remembers it, Bertuzzi was billed within the organization as a hard-nosed forward who was even harder to play against. There wasn't much talk of his offensive upside. In 43 games that season in the OHL, Bertuzzi put up 13 goals and 22 points -- respectable numbers, but not quite those befitting a second-round pick. Fellow OHL forward Zach Nastasiuk went to Detroit 10 picks before Bertuzzi; Natasiuk was coming off a 20-goal, 40-point season.
At 58th overall, surrounded by goalscorers and playmakers and shutdown defensemen, Bertuzzi looked like a reach. The next season in the OHL he produced over a point per game. The one after that, his last playing amateur hockey, "he really, really tore it up," Blashill recalled. His 43 goals ranked sixth in the league, his 98 points ranked 10th. That earned Bertuzzi a shot with the Blashill and the Griffins in the 2015 Calder Cup playoffs. He promptly racked up seven goals and 12 points in 14 games -- and 10 penalty minutes, just for good measure.
The snarl Blashill may have bargainged for, the offense not so much.
"When I first saw him in GR he was right in the playoffs and he played excellent hockey for me. The one thing I thought right away was, 'Boy, this guy's got way more ability than I was kind of led to believe when we first drafted him,'" Blashill said. "There was lots of talk about him being an agitator and all that stuff. Well, he's a way better player than just that, not that that's not an important attribute."
Bertuzzi spent the 2015-16 season exclusively in Grand Rapids. His numbers fell back in line with his general reputation: 12 goals and 30 points in 71 games -- but 133 penalty minutes, the most on the team. Then the playoffs began and the grinder became a scorer again. The next season followed a similar script. Over his first three years in the AHL, Bertuzzi averaged .56 points per game in the regular season, compared to .93 points per game in the playoffs.
There's probably some randomness in those numbers. But circumstance is more to thank than coincidence. At any level, playoff hockey is a more rigorous affair. The checking becomes tighter, the open ice starts to disappear. Fancy goals fall out of style. Players who enjoy doing the dirty work, players like Bertuzzi, tend to thrive. (There are personal legacies and loaded bank accounts to prove it.) If there is an element of the NHL game that sets it apart from those below, it's the lack of time and space. So it makes sense that Bertuzzi's game -- eventually -- would translate.
"I just think he's got that unique ability to not be afraid to take a hit. That gives him an extra second with the puck, so he's able to make lots of plays with the puck," Blashill said.
As Wings fans are well aware, it didn't click right away for Bertuzzi. His first NHL stint ended after seven games -- and zero points -- in the 2016-17 season. But he started to gain a foothold last season, flashing some more skill to complement that toughness, and this season he's established himself firmly within Detroit's top nine forwards and its long-term outlook. He's been playing recently on a line with Dylan Larkin and Gustav Nyquist, the team's two leading scorers.
And once again, he's proving there's more to his game than meets the eye.
"You hope when he plays with a Larkin and a Nyquist he can be a real good complimentary player in the sense that he's a net presence, he's a guy who's going to score some of the dirty goals, he's a guy who's going to get the puck on the forecheck. But yet he's got good enough skill and poise with the puck to complement those guys' skill," Blashill said, "and that's where you hope that his game gets exponentially better when he plays with those types of players."
Bertuzzi's hat trick Saturday night brought him to 13 goals on the year and put him on pace for 23. The first two goals, deflections in front of the net, were the type for which Bertuzzi is known. The third one, a backhander past the glove of Devan Dubnyk, was evidence of the skill for which he's often overlooked. Of course, Bertuzzi found himself in scoring position after diving headfirst for a loose puck in the offensive zone, tumbling into the corner with Wild defenseman Charlie Coyle and then beating Coyle back to his feet and to the front of the net. The sleeve of his jersey and the side of his pants were covered in snow when Bertuzzi threw his arms around Larkin in celebration.
"I think it's a big step for our team and our organization that he can have those types of games," Blashill said. "He's a guy who I think is a real good player, but we'd like him to be a real good scorer who can score 20 and 20-plus. To do that you gotta have nights where you're tipping tons of pucks in, nights like (Saturday). I think the biggest thing with Bert is just finding that level of consistency. I thought he was excellent (Friday night) in Winnipeg, one of our best forwards, and I think he followed it up with an excellent game on Saturday."
With that in mind, Blashill pulled Bertuzzi aside after practice on Monday. He reminded him what it takes to be an upper-echelon player in the NHL. It's not about one strong game, or two strong games in a row, but a strong game every night. Each performance puts a stamp on the one that precedes it. Bertuzzi's next opportunity comes Tuesday night against the Ducks. That's the one he's looking forward to at the moment, but he couldn't help but look back after he celebrated his 100th NHL game with the first hat trick of his career.
He kept his stick and the puck as mementos, and he'll keep the thrill of the evening to fuel whatever comes next.
"It goes by so fast, these years," he said. "Sometimes you just chill and look back at how you got here, from being drafted to Guelph (in the OHL) and then drafted here. It's been a fun ride."
