Bouma is one of the best and most consistent forecheckers on the team. He gets in there fast and forces defenders to move the puck earlier than they want to. He's our best bottom 6 player at doing it and its an important job. I don't see him costing this team at all. I see him being one of our most effective defensive and physical forwards. He's a very important player on this team. If you watch him closely when he's on the ice you may see it too. Bouma when healthy is hands down the most effective bottom 6 winger on this team IMO. He's a complete pain in the butt to play against and is very effective defensively and physically punishing the opposition. In his own end he's very solid and a leader in terms of sacrificing himself to prevent goals.
Bouma is a key player, a core player. It's just that most fans underrate him because his best contributions are defensively and physically two areas that some fans overlook and underrate.
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