Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
Really, you think the Blues went after Bouwmeester and his $6.75M contract, gave up their 1st round pick for 1 point and -1 in the Playoffs.
I highly doubt it. As per usual, he does nothing when it counts and his defenders come in and say "well he's not a bad player". No #### he's not "Bad", but he's not good and he's not a difference maker. You don't give up your 1st round pick for "depth" on the blue line. He's underdelivered as a Blue just as he did here, only in St.Louis the team is good enough to make it to the dance with him being blaze. But they aren't good enough to win around with one of their top defenders not being the difference maker he's paid to be.
Bow's comparables in this series are Keith and Seabrook end of story. And they kicked the #### out of him. Do the Blues lose this series if their top 2 d-men were putting up the same numbers as the Hawks top 2? Not a chance. Bouw failed to do what he's paid and expected to do.
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There is a bit of a difference playing D against St Louis (Oshie coming of injury, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Steen, Injured Backes) then playing D against Chicago (Toews, Kane, Saad, Sharp, Hossa) so I am not sure what you are getting at with the comment saying that Keith (who is one of the best 3 D in the world) and Seabrook outplayed Bouwmeester.
Bouwmeester averaged 25min/g against what is widly considered the best team in hockey (and defending stanley cup champs) and you are referring to him as a "depth defenceman". Give your head a shake, him and Pietro were responsible for keeping this series as close as it was as Miller and the Shattenkirk pairing weren't doing their jobs.
Bouwmeester may not be a "game breaker" offensively but he never gets beat one on one, can skate with anyone, and makes almost no mistakes on the ice. Bouwmeester is however an elite defenseman (top 20 in the world) and to say otherwise is ludicrous.