Jay Bouwmeester

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by pepper24

I have just accepted the fact that Bouwmeester will never live up to his expectations and was a bad signing. It keeps me going.

Yeah I've decided (until this post) to ignore the fact Blouwemeester is even part of the team, I pretend he's not playing for Flames. makes it so much easier.

<commence ignore again>

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Red John

Problem with Bouwmeester is the things that he does do well, he isn't even doing well right now.

Everyone gets upset that he plays soft, etc. but keep in mind Nicklas Lidstrom rarely engaged himself physically also.

Here's the issue. Bouwmeester's strength is skating and positional awareness, and he still gets beat wide regularly and gets caught shadowing the wrong guy at times. When you're one-dimensional you need to be REALLY good at that dimension and that's not the case right now.

And when it comes to either blocking a shot or getting out of the way, he does neither.

The guy's confidence is shot and he's a shadow of the d-man he used to be. Was hopeful that things might be different under Hartley but perhaps it'd be best for him to get a fresh start elsewhere.

I think that's a myth often used to excuse Blouw's shortcomings.

I remember reading interview with Jagr (who is a pretty good authority on the subject matter) where he was asked which defenseman is the hardest to play against and he picked Lidstrom and interestingly enough he mentioned that Lidstrom is probably the best defenseman to use total body strength to his advantage.

Not just to gather speed and crush people with your shoulderpads, but Lidstrom was extremely strong in leaning into players streaking down the wing or pushing them out of the paint without taking a penalty. Blouw can do none of that.

Non-physical Lidstrom is a myth.

[bubbsy]

bouwmeester is terrible.

Regardless of where the team finishes up in the standings, not having him on the roster by the trade deadline, will deem the year a great success in my eyes.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

bouwmeester is terrible.

Regardless of where the team finishes up in the standings, not having him on the roster by the trade deadline, will deem the year a great success in my eyes.

Depending on what happens, maybe having Bouwmeester on the team will be good. Between him and Stajan we've got 1/6th of the cap taken care of next year, so not much further to the cap floor.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Depending on what happens, maybe having Bouwmeester on the team will be good. Between him and Stajan we've got 1/6th of the cap taken care of next year, so not much further to the cap floor.

i don't think the flames will ever be in a position to be striving for the cap floor.

how much worse would this d-group really be with giordano/wideman/brodie and then 3 sarich equivalents. I think younger versions of Sarich ~3 million are usually available, and the flames should use that approach till fill out the roster until they are able to build some quality D through the draft.

I think of bouwmeester the same way i think of jokinen. Maybe an ok player, not a winner, so though they bring up the individual skill level at their position, it is more valuable to have them OFF your team (unless they are dropped on the depth chart and playing a less critical role, of course, their salary doesn't dictate that, so bad idea).

Ecstatic when it was official jokinen wasn't coming back, will be happy when #4 is also. Hopefully we don't have to give up 2nd round picks just to have a team willing to bite.

[Brannigans Law]

I think a big reason a lot of Flames fans like myself are so turned off to this team right now is the terrible play and heartless attitude of Bouwmeester. I will feel so much happier about wearing my Flames jersey once this guy gets off my team.

[Hammertime]

I lost faith in him last season when the Pens were in town, and sportsnet showed a clip of Crosby making Jay look foolish 1 on 1 the previous time they met. A few shifts later, Crosby does the exact same thing and blows by Jay to put the Pens up by 1. At that point, I knew that the book is out on Bouwmeester and he's an overrated number 4/5 Dman at best.

[bigtmac19]

His inability to clear the puck from the front of the next is the killer for me. Whenever there is a scrum in front of the net, if Bouw is out there, I know we are going to get scored on.

That fourth goal last night - also all Bouwmeester.

[casucks]

Originally Posted by MikaelBacklund

I was actually going to comment on how one thing that Phaneuf and Regher were good at was clearing the forwards away from their goaltender. Whereas Jay jumps away from his man...

I really miss Phaneuf & Regher! When Dion was here a poll was done by 2 players on every NHL team and Dion was #1 on the list for the most feared player to play against. We are missing that grit from those 2 guys and now our D are bunch of unskilled pansies! I love Gio but has probably come out of the gates moving slower than Jaybo. I know it's only 2 games but I'm concerned about our D!

[Red_Baron]

My dislike for him started 2/3 of the way through the 2009-2010 season and probably peaked as full-blown hatred last March.
I actually softened up this summer and believed that it was maybe, just maybe a product of Sutter's coaching.
After these first two games, I don't know how I could have thought this after seeing the same lack of passion that has defined this guy for his whole NHL career.

[The Voice of Reason]

Smooth skating can only take you so far in the NHL.

We're reaching "can't teach an old dog new tricks" territory with Bouwmeester. He's never been a physical Dman, so hoping he becomes one now seems unlikely. At this point, I'm just curious how many other teams in the NHL are interested in acquiring him.

[Husky]

Its not our D that are bad its our forwards poor defensive coverage. Very little shot blocking, poor D coverage, not helping out the D. Wingers don't cover D and half boards well and the centers are bad at picking up high men in the slots or helping in corners.

[casucks]

Originally Posted by Husky

Its not our D that are bad its our forwards poor defensive coverage. Very little shot blocking, poor D coverage, not helping out the D. Wingers don't cover D and half boards well and the centers are bad at picking up high men in the slots or helping in corners.

Ummmm......a defenseman's job is defense #1. A forwards job is offense #1! Sure they have a secondary role, but 9 goals against can be tagged on D and G

[flamesfan55]

Oh god what a bunch of crap. It's 2 games in and already these stupid threads are made. It's two games people, there might as well be a trade kipper since he has allowed 9 goals in 2 games, trade Sven because he has no points in 2 games.

[The Voice of Reason]

Originally Posted by casucks

Ummmm......a defenseman's job is defense #1. A forwards job is offense #1! Sure they have a secondary role, but 9 goals against can be tagged on D and G

Keep that attitude up and the forward lines are going to start looking like the Oilers top line. Just a bunch of dudes skating aimlessly around with no interest in defending their own zone. I've seen enough of those games to know doing that results in your goalie getting really good at digging the puck out of his net.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by flamesfan55

Oh god what a bunch of crap. It's 2 games in and already these stupid threads are made. It's two games people, there might as well be a trade kipper since he has allowed 9 goals in 2 games, trade Sven because he has no points in 2 games.

No, 248 games now. He's earned this type of fan reaction IMO, and even the most optimistic of fans are losing patience with him....like myself.

[North East Goon]

Something needs to be done about this defense unit, 0-physicality and 0-hockey sense. Not much can really be done right now, besides giving some of the kids on the Heat a chance to show what they have.

[badger89]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

I think that's a myth often used to excuse Blouw's shortcomings.

I remember reading interview with Jagr (who is a pretty good authority on the subject matter) where he was asked which defenseman is the hardest to play against and he picked Lidstrom and interestingly enough he mentioned that Lidstrom is probably the best defenseman to use total body strength to his advantage.

Not just to gather speed and crush people with your shoulderpads, but Lidstrom was extremely strong in leaning into players streaking down the wing or pushing them out of the paint without taking a penalty. Blouw can do none of that.

Non-physical Lidstrom is a myth.

Jagr probably meant the hardest to best one on one. I don't remember Lidstrom doing any of those things. He most often stripped the defender of the puck with his stick, not his body.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

2 games and the guy is crucified. We are becoming worse than Habs fans, talk about shameful.

It's been the last 248 games. Recall that he hasn't missed a single one, we've got more than enough of a sample size to justify this .

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by flamesfan55

Oh god what a bunch of crap. It's 2 games in and already these stupid threads are made. It's two games people, there might as well be a trade kipper since he has allowed 9 goals in 2 games, trade Sven because he has no points in 2 games.

It's not 2 games.

It's 3 seasons and 2 games.