8 reasons to not re-sign bootuzzi

1. he spends an awful lot of time doing absolutely nothing on the ice; time where he is not involved with the play, not backchecking, not forechecking, not in position, not skating, not creating havoc infront of a goaltender.

2. if the puck is on his stick, he will most often drop pass or backhand pass to absolutely nobody (unless we're counting the opposition). he also has a penchant for a spin-a-rama move to avoid a check, often losing the puck in the process.... hey, he might be able to spell "shot on goal" but i'm not convinced he knows its meaning....

3. he hasn't played a full 82 games since 05/06. why pay a guy full season money for for 3/4 season of work ?

4. he has a lawsuit upcoming sometime after october, a big one, and he certainly didn't play well in the games leading up to the last face-to-face with steve moore in december '09 (0G 2A -5 in the week prior). the trial could be lengthy, and even if bert were able to continue playing while it's in session, there's no reason to believe that he'll be focussed on the game. this kind of major distraction would also, presumeably, be a major downer for his teammates....

5. he spent the majority of his 66 games this year on the ice with daymond langkow, mike cammalleri and/or jarome iginla, and still only netted 44 points (15G 29 A)... maybe it's just me but when you get +/-18 minutes a night with elite calibre linemates and THAT's your output, you're not worth a new contract.

6. if mike keenan stays, then bert will get icetime over the younger guys (which will handicap the team's future top 6).

7. the penalties..... oohhhhh, the PENALTIES.... it's entirely possible that bert gets a raw deal from the zebras some nights, but more often than not his elbow's a little high or his stick is tugging more than nugding. i honestly think that most times he just can't help himself.... "benefit of the doubt" does not apply to #7 and probably never will...

8. bert can't fight. hey, i'm not gonna sugarcoat it ----what happened to steve moore is totally devastating, but the fact of the matter is that the "incident" seems to have emasculated the instigator. i'm sure bootuzzi is the recipient of a whole lot of on-ice trash talk [cal clutterbuck, in the minnesota star-tribune, "First game I played him, he said he's going to kill me. I said, 'I don't doubt it.' Then, I turned to the linesman and said, 'Did you hear him?' You know, just in case"], and he rarely stands up for himself. why ? because he can't, either for fear of a repeat incident or being overly penalized.... plus, he's probably been advised against it.... all of this would also, presumeably, be a bummer for the other guys on your team....

feel free to elaborate if you've got more reasons.
this is all i could come up with on a tuesday afternoon.... ;)