Bertuzzi tells the unbelievable story of how he was traded by Mike Milbury.

Former National Hockey League player, coach, general manager and now NHL television analyst Mike Milbury has always been a very controversial figure in the world of hockey. Milbury has one of the worst reputations of any hockey personality that I am aware of and if I were to be blunt I would have to admit that he's earned that reputation almost entirely on his own. 

Well just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, over the weekend the legend of Milbury gained a brand new chapter courtesy of former NHL forward Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi, who added to his own controversial legend over the weekend by landing himself in jail, managed to find time to join the Cam and Stick Podcast to discuss a variety of topics, one of which was the trade that sent him from the New York Islanders to the Vancouver Canucks. That trade was of course made by Milbury, who is to this day regarded as one of the worst general managers in NHL history for his tenure as GM of the islanders, but to hear Bertuzzi tell the story of how it happened is almost unbelievable.

"After two years of it I was like 'F*ck I have to get out of here,'" admitted Bertuzzi. 

The former NHLer admitted that he loved Long Island but that things within the organization were not as great. So Bertuzzi tracked down Milbury to let him know he wanted out, and it sounds like the Islanders GM did not take too kindly to that suggestion.

"So I come in the room and I said 'Hey this is not working out man so it would be nice if I could go somewhere else' and he goes 'Ah perfect! I've got a place for you to go'. So I go out and he calls me and he says it's done your flight leaves in 2 hours you're going to Salt Lake City."

Bertuzzi of course realized immediately that he had not been traded and was instead being sent down to the IHL, but that was only the start of his nightmare with Milbury.

"So I fly all the way down there... we just fly 3 hours we touch down and get to the airport and all of sudden the hotel phone rings and it's the Islanders and they've called me back up. I didn't even get to practice, nothing. I gotta fly to New Jersey, he healthy scratches me in Jersey, we bus home from New Jersey all the way to the Island and he sent me right back down that morning."

Pretty bad right? Again it was far from over.

"I fly all the way back there again, I get one practice in and he calls me back up to Philly. So I go to Philly and I'm healthy scratched in Philly. Take the bus all the way back to the Island, he tells me I'm going back down the next day. I end up going down there and thankfully played 10 games, played well, and got traded to Vancouver."

Clearly Milbury was trying to spite Bertuzzi for demanding a trade, and I must admit that the lack of professionalism from the bumbling GM does not surprise me in the least. 

I suppose Bertuzzi should just be happy he wasn't hit with a shoe.