Bouma nets new three- year contract
For someone whose professional identity is as kind of a Dead End Kid/ junkyard dog, relies largely on unfettered emotion, on standing up with a slight curl of the lip to be counted and consequences be damned, this arbitration business must’ve seemed awfully foreign.
Lance Bouma’s not wired to take any guff, to back up an inch.
“You hear all the horror stories of how bad ( arbitration)’ s gonna be,” admitted Bouma. “Obviously, they present their facts. You present your facts. You’ve both got to make a case.
“So you’ve got to go into it with the mindset that they really like you as a player, they want you there. It’s part of the business. That’s the way you have to approach it. Nothing personal. So you don’t really have to put much thought into it, actually.
“( Arbitration) is something I had the right to do, so I took advantage of it.
“At the end of the day, I’m just really happy we ended up getting a deal done before the arbitrator made a ruling.”
Always saves a certain amount of additional, usually hidden, acrimony, one side or the other.
After enduring three hours of Perry Mason vs. Hamilton Berger courtroom- like jockeying in front of a judge/ arbitrator Wednesday, the Bouma camp and the Calgary Flames took a welcome recess.
A day later, allowed to continue negotiations throughout the ruling process, they worked out an agreement on their own, worth $ 6.6 million total, rising incrementally over its three- year duration: $ 2.1 million, $ 2.2 million and $ 2.3 million.
More money, surely, than he could’ve concocted in his wildest dreams growing up in Provost.
“It’s been a whirlwind, these last couple of days. You’re wondering what to do. Should I even go through with it? Shouldn’t I? “It’s just a crazy feeling. “I had confidence in our case, the way the Flames, I’m sure, had confidence in theirs. At the end of the day, we came to an agreement — which is what both sides wanted.”
If the asking- for numbers being tossed around were accurate — Flames offering $ 1.5M per, Bouma digging in his heels at $ 2.5M — then he won the tug- o’war, ever- so- slightly.
Making Bouma right. They must like him.
His was always going to be an intriguing case. One of those under- the- radar, overlooked-from-the- outside kinda guys. Those 16 goals and 34 points were, yes, career highs. Still, no one’s going to mistake him for Johnny Gaudreau or Sean Monahan or Jiri Hudler in the scoring department.
Bouma’s value lies primarily more in less showy pursuits. Hits. Relentless try. Blocked shots.
In a way, his overcoming- the-odds campaign fitted snugly into the identity being forged by the suddenly- relevant, uppity Flames.
Perhaps the most accurate assessment on his worth to this organization at this time came from Flames’ assistant GM Brad Pascall: “He fits our DNA.”
The announced dollar figures were open for wide- ranging discussion on fan boards and Twitter. Too much of an outlay? Just enough? Whatever.
A crazy percentage of professional athletes today — all levels, all sports — pocket more than the GNP of certain small nations. That’s the slightly surreal reality of the age and it shows no signs of abating.
Which doesn’t mean arbitrations — designed to probe the pros and cons of a player — can’t still get Iron Sheik nasty.
Both sides in this one, however, swear on a stack of Gideons that it was conducted in as thoroughly professional and civilized a manner as possible.
“I wouldn’t call the arbitration process — for a player or for the club — something you’d want to do on a daily basis,” said Pascall. “But, hey, it’s reality. When you’re standing your ground, in any type of negotiation, there’s rules of the game, if you will. And things you have to do to prove your point. At the end of the day, we had good, solid communication and were happy to come to a deal.” No more pleased than Bouma. “Absolutely. This is where I wanted to be. The whole talk the entire time was: I wanted to stay in Calgary as long as possible.
“I’m glad this is over. Now I can’t wait to get back to Calgary and start working with this group again.”