Jeff Blashill sounds off on Red Wings F Tyler Bertuzzi

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a disappointing game against the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night in Montreal, getting shut out for the second game this season. Of course, it certainly didn't help that the team was without captain Dylan Larkin (personal reasons) as well as leading scorer Tyler Bertuzzi, who is ineligible to play due to his anti-COVID-19 vaccination stance. 

However, Bertuzzi's importance to the Red Wings can't be understated. The good news is that the next game that he'll have to miss due to his stance isn't until late February should he ultimately choose to remain unvaccinated. 

For head Coach Jeff Blashill, it's certainly difficult having to play without their leading scorer, but he still respects the decision that Bertuzzi made. 

“I’ve had lots of conversations with Bert about a lot of things and certainly this is part of the conversations I would have, but I have a great amount of respect for Bert as a person, a great amount of respect for him as a player,” Blashill said. “The NHL allowed players to make a choice with consequences and he’s made that choice and I respect his decision. It’s not something we talk about lots. It’s his decision to make and he’s made it and I’m more worried about when he’s with us how well he plays and when he’s not with us how well everybody else plays. We’ve had good enough lineups to win. We got to find ways to execute better.”

The Red Wings are 0-3 without Bertuzzi in the lineup, but 4-1-2 with him. He'll be back on the roster tonight as the Red Wings visit the Boston Bruins, and they'll need more out of him tonight as Larkin will once again be out of the lineup as he continues to deal with an off-ice issue. 

“Tyler can produce offense against really good, hard defensive teams because he’s a hard player who gets to the net front,” Blashill said. “The fact that he’s able to have success against a real good team that’s really good defensively is because of the fact that he plays the right way, and he gets to those hard areas.”