St. Louis Blues: 5 Biggest Turkeys Of 2018-19 So Far

2. Jay Bouwmeester

St. Louis always seems to get the short end of the stick on deals like these. When Jay Bouwmeester signed his contract, it was a fair deal, even slightly tilted in the team’s favor.

Unfortunately, as each season went on, the deal looked worse and worse. Now, things have gotten so bad, people are accusing the team of only playing him because of what he is being paid. I don’t buy into that. It is simply that other circumstances have forced the team to keep him in the lineup.

Now, as for the reason he continually plays on special teams and they keep wanting to slide him up the roster – I do not have an answer. I don’t think the Blues have a very good answer either.

I think the hope is that Bouwmeester will return to full health at some point and they will have a serviceable defender. That looks extremely unlikely right now.

Clouding everything is the true nature of his health. Coming off hip surgery, he was held out for a long time. But he looked good in preseason and was a starter on day one.

Then, suddenly he was not fully fit, according to the coaching staff. That’s fine, if true, but also if true, why was he played in the first place. His omission clearly would not have had a terrible impact.

The problem with Bouwmeester is two-fold right now. I have never seen a player regress so quickly due to age or injury. He is 35 and played a ton of games in his career. He was the NHL’s iron man until his first injury in 2014-15. He has never been the same player since then. In fact, he has been injury prone since that season and his point totals were sliced by more than half.

Lately, he has been a defensive liability too. Even on the third pairing, he seems to be out of position and incapable of skating with his mark.

It is kind of sad to watch, especially since I like the guy. But, this is one instance where the fans might actually be right and the team might be better off without Bouwmeester.