Sheldon Keefe publicly calls out Tyler Bertuzzi
Yikes, Bert is feeling the heat!
HockeyFeed
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi has found himself in the crosshairs more than once this season of head coach Sheldon Keefe, who was seen yelling in Bertuzzi's ear on the bench during a game in late November this season.
Additionally, Bertuzzi was just demoted by Keefe to the third line, playing with Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok for tonight's game against the Edmonton Oilers after having not even reached two minutes of playing time in the 3rd period of Saturday night's loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche at Scotiabank Arena.
And for Keefe, Bertuzzi's play has been too "inconsistent" for his liking and that he doesn't start games with the kind of ferocity that he was expected to provide upon agreeing to join the Leafs this past summer.
"I would say inconsistent," Keefe said when asked to review Bertuzzi's play of late. "For me, it has taken a while to get going in each game that we have played of late. When the game gets going, he is in it and he is competitive. At times, the game gets away from him a little bit early."
However, it wasn't all doom and gloom for Bertuzzi from Keefe.
"To me, Bert has played good hockey for us for a good stretch of time now," Keefe said. "It seems that the harder, more competitive, and more important the game is, the better we get from him. I thought the game against Colorado was a bit of an exception there, but he has played very well for us."
"He is an important guy."
Bertuzzi and the Leafs take on the Edmonton Oilers from Rogers Place tonight starting at 9:00 PM EST. Can the scrappy forward find himself back in his head coach's good graces?
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