Former Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi is suing his former coach Marc Crawford for urging Canucks players to make former Av Steve Moore "pay the price" for his wicked hit on Marcus Nasland on March 8, 2004.  The suit claims Crawford knew that that would "most certainly result in injury to Moore" and has some accountability.

If this isn't a case of blaming someone else for your own grief, I don't know what is.

Look, I don't think it was Crawford who told Bertuzzi, "Todd, sneak up behind Moore and sucker punch him so he breaks his neck and never plays again."  While Crawford did give the order, it was Bertuzzi who chose the method.  There are several ways to make a player "pay the price" and the method Bertuzzi chose was not one of them.  I am not an expert on law, but unless Crawford spelled out explicitly what his expectations were and how Bertuzzi was to achieve them, it is unlikely that Crawford can be held accountable.  Unlike "A Few Good Men" a code red is not illegal (yet, but we are sure Gary Bettman is working on it.)

The argument is that it was Bertuzzi, not Crawford who was out on the ice and who cheap shotted Moore.  And while Crawford had some complicity, he is not responsible for the method Bertuzzi choose to extract revenge in.  That was Bertuzzi's decision and he, not Crawford, is responsible for his own actions.