Err…’traffic ticket’??

We all know Darryl Sutter didn’t get much skoolin’ while he was training to be one of the toughest competitors of his NHL era. But surely a good farm boy from Viking, Alta. knows it’s poor form to minimize a career-ending injury caused by a deliberate blow to the skull.

So we were a tad surprised after the Flames GM inked Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.95-million contract to read the following quote from Sutter on Bertuzzi’s attack on Steve Moore: “I think that’s a long time ago,” Sutter is quoted as saying in today’s Globe. “It’s like, I had a traffic ticket three years ago. I hope there are three or four fans that can forget I went through a red light.”

Ah, not really, Darryl. Unless you maimed a guy going through that light.

This compelling remark does not appear in the online version of Eric Duhatschek’s story on the signing. A paraphrased version does, however, pop up in the Calgary Sun. Neither paper treats it as earth-shattering, or even mildly off-key. So I guess we too will mark it up to Sutter’s woolly-mouthed manner of expressing himself, and await the inevitable clarification from the Flames front office.

As for Bert, here’s hoping he has a few good years left in him. He’ll need the money to pay Moore’s civil award.