VANCOUVER - When news broke Tuesday that Steve Moore's lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks had been settled -- news that was overdue but expected, like the death of George Burns or the retirement of Chris Chelios -- the natural question was: What took so long?
It has been more than 10 years since Bertuzzi sucker-punched Moore, then a fourth-line player with the Colorado Avalanche, during a game in Vancouver.
The incident started as an indictment of National Hockey League culture and is ending as an indictment on the pace of the civil justice system in Canada.
Moore's lead lawyer, Tim Danson, cast his first lawsuit in the case in 2005, in Colorado, then reloaded and filed a new suit in Ontario, on Feb. 16, 2006, which happened to be the day of Bertuzzi's first game with Team Canada at the Turin Olympics. Just a coincidence, Danson said.
Danson's demands began with the claim of a mere $18 million for his client -- $15 million of it for alleged future loss of NHL income by Moore, who was 25 when he was attacked and had spent most of three professional seasons in the minors. In 69 games with an excellent Avalanche team, Moore amassed five goals, 12 points and was minus-nine. Moore's parents also filed a claim against Bertuzzi, seeking $1.5 million for "negligent infliction of nervous shock and mental distress."
But inflation being what it is, between 0.83 and 2.38 per cent annually in Canada during the last 10 years, Moore's objective ballooned over time to $38 million, then, only seven weeks ago, $68 million. Perhaps that figure was accompanied by Moore or Danson raising a pinky finger to his mouth and laughing diabolically.
Some of the justification for the damage figures also seemed to change, from Moore's loss of income -- the loss of his NHL career -- to the loss of his dream.
Last spring, a day before the 10th anniversary of Bertuzzi's March 8, 2004 attack, Moore told The Canadian Press that he still suffered from headaches and fatigue.
"I lost my entire career in my rookie year," Moore said. "I think any player put in that situation would do the same thing. I can't recover anything else. I can't recover my career, the experience of living out my dream, from the time I was 2 1/2-years-old, of playing in the NHL."
Unsuccessful at getting into business school at Stanford or Harvard, where he starred on the hockey team as an undergraduate, Moore today has enough money to pursue other dreams. Even after Danson takes his cut, Moore should have few financial worries, which is something at least.
Typically, insurance would pay the Canucks' share of the undisclosed settlement. And Bertuzzi, who finished last season at age 39 and has career earnings of more than $47 million US, isn't going to have to sell his car or get a job at Wal-Mart to pay for retirement.
Bertuzzi, whose performance appeared to be putting his own career in jeopardy when his contract was bought out two years after the Canucks traded him in 2006, went on to make $28.7 million after his attack on Moore.
Presumably, Bertuzzi can pay his bills.
As of Tuesday evening, only Bertuzzi's lawyer, Geoff Adair, was confirming a settlement has been reached.
Bertuzzi sobbed in the Canucks' dressing room: "What have I done? What have I done?" the night he knocked out Moore, breaking three of his opponent's vertebrae, as revenge for Moore's unpenalized hit to the head the previous month on Bertuzzi's friend and teammate, Markus Naslund.
Whether he says so or not, Big Bert will be relieved this is over.
The NHL, which never received the blame it deserved for its role as enabler in both incidents (Bertuzzi's attack probably would not occur today because the league would have suspended Moore for headhunting Naslund instead of condoning it) should be even more relieved. The full-blown trial, with a witness list that included commissioner Gary Bettman, was scheduled to begin just before NHL training camps in September.
Moore should be happy to have won what is believed to be an eight-figure settlement. The lawyers will be ecstatic.
But despite all these happy and relieved people, a certain sadness prevails.
It was the same feeling I had 10 years ago inside General Motors Place when the cheering ended and horror began for a Canuck crowd that was baying for revenge until the moment Bertuzzi gave them it.
It was sickening.
As the scope of what had occurred became clear, as Moore lay motionless and bleeding on the ice, there was already a sense that the two players involved would never be the same. Bertuzzi was immediately suspended for the rest of the season, which torpedoed the playoff chances of a Canuck team that was good enough to challenge for the Stanley Cup. Bertuzzi publicly apologized to Moore and pled guilty in Vancouver to a criminal assault charge. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service.
Whether you agree with Moore's opportunistic and optimistic assertion after the attack that he would have developed into a top-six forward in the NHL, he never got to play another game. His career, his dream, was over.
Bertuzzi, one of the NHL's best players the previous two seasons, was never the same. He matured and, after leaving Vancouver, survived as a role player who stayed under the radar and out of trouble. But Bertuzzi was never again great. In some ways, both players were broken that night.
On March 8, 2004, the only guy in hockey unluckier than Bertuzzi was Moore.
But Moore had no say in his awful luck that night, whereas Bertuzzi was responsible for creating his. And for that, albeit 10 years later, he has had to pay.
