[868904]

I think Bouwmeester's offensive game is underrated and his defensive game is overated.

He's actually really good at joining the rush and supporting the forwards on offense. When he is joining the rush like he has been, he can be described as dynamic and I could see Team Canada having a use for him in that regard. There are very few defensemen in the world who can join a rush and get back on defense as fast and as fluidly as Bouwmeester.

As for his defence, I find that he needs to focus on positioning and rely more heavily on his long stick and using his smarts. He simply does not have the strength to compete physically against strong forwards and he should just stop. You don't have to be super strong or big to be effective in the defensive zone, look at Nik Lidstrom. Bouwmeester needs to watch tape of Lidstrom and learn how he defended. Having said that, Bouwmeester has had a lot of experience playing in all defensive situations and I would say he is at least an average defensive defenceman.

With all that said, I could see him being a 7th defenceman for Team Canada simply because he can play an offensive and defensive role. He has developed a versatility that not all of Canada top defensemen have and in the case of an injury to the top 6, he could fill in admirably for any one of them if need be.