I like Bouma as a player very much. I like his heart, his intensity, his good shot and his willingness to leave it all on the ice each and every game. I don't believe there was one game last season where I could say that Bouma was just "cruising along".
Having said that, Bouma's demonstrated style of play is partly a substitute for the missing hockey technical skills that are necessary for a higher-line/higher-end player. In essence, what I am trying to say, he is a great 4th line player that, perhaps, would like to play higher and thinks that he had earned it by exhibiting all of the above great qualities. But, as a GM, you have to assume various negative scenarios in each contract negotiation and one big question is: can Bouma sustain this level of play for several years and does he have a much higher risk of being injured because of his playing style? I think this is the only reason for hesitation on the part of Treliving in finalizing his contract.
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"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel
“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake
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