Unfortunately for Todd, he was forever promised to be the next Clark Gillies, the once Islander great. They even had Gillies tutor Bertuzzi in a few practices. But Todd was not the physical force that Gillies was, as he wanted to concentrate on his offensive play. He struggled in that department in his sophomore season and only scored 10 goals, disappearing for large parts of the season. The coaching staff became impatient with Bertuzzi's seeming lack of enthusiasm and sent him to Utah of the IHL on two different occasions to try and spark a response on the ice. With the trade deadline approaching during the 1997-98 season, the Islanders finally got tired of waiting for Bertuzzi to develop into what they had hoped for and shipped him to the Vancouver Canucks along with D Bryan McCabe and a 1998 third round draft pick(Jarkko Ruutu) in exchange for C/W Trevor Linden. GM Mike Milbury would be the one who completed the deal on February 6, 1998 as the team was looking for some veteran leadership from a player like Linden, who later became captain.

     In hindsight, this has turned out to be arguable Mike Milbury's worst deal as GM of the New York Islanders and almost rivals the Canucks trading Cam Neely to Boston in 1986. Linden did not turn out to be the leader the Islanders needed and his offensive skills had eroded after 10 years with the Canucks. Linden was sent to Montreal for a 10th round pick in 1999 after one season on Long Island. Bertuzzi struggled at first with Vancouver and breaking his leg midway through 1998-99 didn't help. But he returned to score 25 goals in each of the next two seasons. In 2001-02 Bertuzzi had a breakout season playing on a line with Markus Naslund. His 85 points ranked third in the league in scoring behind Jarome Iginla and Naslund. Todd's 36 goal output finally has him realizing the power forward potential the Islanders once thought he possessed. Throw in the fact that Bryan McCabe has emerged as one of the best defenseman in the league AND the Isles threw in a draft pick, this will be a trade that Milbury won't soon forget.

Update: Bertuzzi continued his all-star play into the 2002-03 season, becoming an imposing power forward and combined with Naslund for perhaps the most dangerous pair in the NHL. Todd had a career season with 46 goals and 97 points. But 2003-04 would be a different story. Bertuzzi struggled with only 17 goals and 60 points in 69 games. On March 9, 2004 Bertuzzi was involved in what would be one of the most talked about incidents in the hockey world for the next year to come when he seriously injured the neck of Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore. On March 11, 2005 Bertuzzi was suspended by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for the remainder of the season and he would not be re-instated until Bettman saw fit. In August of 2005, following the signing of the new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement Bettman finally lifted Bertuzzi's suspension. To this day, Moore has not played another NHL game is his career is in doubt. As for Bertuzzi, he was traded to the Florida Panthers in a deal that involved former Islanders goaltender Roberto Luongo during the 2006 draft. He has yet to play for Florida after requiring back surgery.