Shining after Flames fiasco
On his game: Bouwmeester is bound for Sochi with a chance to further show how far he’s come from those lowly Calgary days
To map the rise and fall and rise of Jay Bouwmeester, you must only remember where he has been and at what age he was there. The rangy defenceman played his first of three world junior tournaments when he was 16 years old. He played for Canada at the world championships at age 20, was selected for the World Cup of Hockey at 21 and the Olympic Games in Turin at 22. This was supposed to be just the beginning of Bouw meester’s accomplishments in hockey. It was nearly the end. When the 30- year- old from Edmonton was named this week to Canada’s team for Sochi, it marked not only a return to the Olympics for Bouwmeester but an exclamation point on his revival in the National Hockey League.
Only a year ago, as the Calgary Flames gained velocity in their base jump toward the bottom of the NHL, Bouwmeester had become a cautionary tale for managers about what can happen when you lavish huge money on players from bad teams. And the embarrassing hole on Bouwmeester’s
NHL resumé was as big as the hole in the ozone layer.
Acquired by former Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter from the Florida Panthers in 2009 and signed to a five- year, $ 33.4- million US contract that made him the fifth highest- paid defenceman in the league, Bouwmeester not only failed to elevate his play and make a decent Flames team better, his arrival coincided with the franchise’s deterioration. All the money and ice time thrown at Bouwmeester didn’t slow the erosion. After going to the Olympics in 2006, Bouwmeester was left off the 2010 Canadian team that redeemed its poor showing in Turin with an epic gold- medal performance in Vancouver.
Bouwmeester never managed more than five goals and 29 points in any of his three full seasons with the Flames. And Calgary missed the playoffs each season, meaning Bouwmeester had been in the NHL for nine years and 717 games and not once set foot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And then, on April Fool’s Day last year, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues.
“The drain on him of being a player who had never played in the playoffs was excruciating,” St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said Friday before the formidable Blues faced the Vancouver Canucks.
“Bo hid it well, but it really wore on him. He just got tired of having that pushed in his face every day.”
With St. Louis, Bouwmeester finally made his playoff debut at age 29.
The Blues lost 4- 2 in a ferocious first- round series against the Los Angeles Kings last May, but no one in St. Louis pinned the defeat on Bouwmeester.
With St. Louis, he also gets to play
with rising star Alex Pietrangelo on a defence that includes high- scoring U. S. Olympian Kevin Shattenkirk and gritty veterans Barret Jackman and Roman Polak.
Bouwmeester doesn’t have to be Superman. All he has to do, he said, is play his game.
“For me, it’s been pretty refreshing,” Bouwmeester said.
“With the group we have and depth we have, if everyone just does their job, we’re going to have success.
“I’ve enjoyed it. The people are good, the city is good. It’s a good sports town, but you don’t get the ridiculousness you get in Canada, so overall it’s been a good change.”
Extracting answers from Bouwmeester is like extracting teeth, but he admitted it was difficult four years ago not to be named to the Olympic team.
“When you do what we do, if you’re thinking four years down the road, you’re out of your mind,” he said. “At the time, yeah, I was disappointed. There are a lot of guys right now who are disappointed ( not to be going to Russia). But you deal with it and move on and I’m grateful to have another opportunity.”
When he returns to the Olympics next month, he’ll be accompanied by Pietrangelo, who turns 24 next week. In 43 games this season, Bouwmeester had 27 points and was plus- 20 while averaging 24: 17 of ice time — less than what he logged in Calgary.
Pietrangelo, from King City, Ont., had 31 points, a plus- 15 rating and 25: 29 TOI.
“He’s probably more quiet with us than he is with you guys because you force him to answer questions,” Pietrangelo said with a smile . “Since Jay came over, he’s been a veteran guy I’ve been able to lean on.
“He has a ton of experience. To
play in every situation with him, then have the opportunity to go to the Olympics and potentially play together there, it’s special.”
Bouwmeester is 6- foot- 4 and one of the most fluid skaters of his generation. Pietrangelo is 6- foot3. Their wingspans seem to just about cover the width of the ice. Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo have become one of the best defensive pairings in the NHL.
“There was some risk when we put these two guys together because there would be times we’d have two defencemen at the ( opposition) net,” Hitchcock said.
“We’re still working with them to find a balance where there are not two guys racing up the ice offensively.
“They’re a good fit right now, defensively, for us. But there’s another level they can get to offensively.
“They’re probably 50 per cent of where they’re going to be by the end of the year.”
Twice as good for Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo is a frightening prospect for the rest of the NHL, but it’s tantalizing for Team Canada.
“I think Bo is having fun being part of a program where expectations are high, collectively, but he’s just one of the guys,” Hitchcock said.
“Staying out of the limelight is more comfortable for him. And he plays better in that atmosphere.”
Asked if this is the most fun he has had in hockey, Bouwmeester paused, then said: “Yeah, I’d say that. You don’t really sit back and look at it while the year is going on, but when you’re winning games and part of that, the attitude is a little better and you have a little more fun.
“It’s been a good, fresh start for me.”