When Tuomo Ruutu was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks 9th overall back in 2001 draft, pundits expected Ruutu would be the next BIG THING in NHL Power Forwards.Ruutu started off quite well, putting up and playing a very aggressive crash-and-bang "Canadian" style of game and putting up 23 goals in his rookie season. Ruutu loved to deliver hits, and looked like he'd develop into an effective 35-40 goal scorer for the Hawks for many seasons to come.
Alas, Ruutu ran into injury problems (and was mistaken for an armed robber!), and was never quite the same again. During the past two seasons, Ruutu has put up just 38 points in each campaign and hardly looks like he belongs on the top two lines of any club. The Canes, who gave up Andrew Ladd (another disappointing forward) to acquire Tuomo, are hoping that Ruutu can find his game in a new home, signed the young Finn to a simple 1-year deal that will pay him a cool $2.25M next season.
"We are happy he'll be back with our team and we hope that he can stay healthy and return to the 20-goal plateau that he reached during his rookie season," said Rutherford.
Is Tuomo simply a bigger version of his pesty and unproductive brother, Jarkko, or will he actually provide above-average offensive numbers? 20 goals is hardly much of an exciting target.
If I were a Canes fan, I'd be fairly optimistic that Ruutu is set to reach at least 25 goals this season, and hopefully 30. Ruutu scored 11 points in 17 games with the Canes late last season, and seemed quite comfortable in the Canes offensive, up-tempo system.
I also look at comparable Power Forward types and remember that it can take longer for these types of players to develop to their full potential.
Todd Bertuzzi - After struggling mightily on Long Island, Bertuzzi was traded to the Canucks in the infamous Trevor Linden deal. Bertuzzi didn't put up big numbers right away, but finally started to find himself at around 25-26, the same point in time which Ruutu finds himself.
Remember John "Chocolate" LeClair? He was mired at about 40-50 points a season while getting his feet wet with the Canadiens. At the age of 26, he was dealt to the Flyers and instantly become one of the game's most feared goal scorers.
I'm not sure Ruutu has the mental ability and hockey sense to ever duplicate LeClair and Bertuzzi-like numbers, but when you get a big guy like Ruutu on a new team and exercise a bit of patience, you might just get to see the ability you expected all along.
