St. Louis Blues New Year Resolutions For The Defensemen
By Todd Panula
Jay Bouwmeester
Jay Bouwmeester is one of the puzzling cases of this current St. Louis Blues team. While he has been in somewhat of a decline anyway, things were just crazy at the start of 2018-19.
However, part of Bouwmeester’s problem has been perception. When the Blues acquired him, he was still near the top of his offensive prowess. When St. Louis got him, partly by design and partly by age, he became much more of a defensive defenseman.
The problem there is his defense was nonexistent to begin 2018-19. Bouwmeester has gotten much better with health and time, but he is still currently a minus-10 even after a good rebound.
So, Bouwmeester has a couple things on his New Year Resolution list. One is within his control and another is out of it.
The first is to get out of the way. That is an easy thing to say, but a heard thing to do.
Bouwmeester had a big problem of being one of the worst offenders of blocking his own goalie. Some of it had to do with his linemate, but we will get to that.
Bouwmeester was hampered by a hip injury that too many people thought he was fully healed from. It took far too long for him to get his legs underneath him. Combining that with his age, Bouwmeester was little more than a body out on the ice.
Now that he seems to have righted the ship, his positioning has gotten a lot better. Bouwmeester has even gained a physical side too. It might be physical for Bouwmeester, but it is physical nevertheless.
That brings us to the part that is out of his control. It would be in Bouwmeester’s and the Blues’ best interest to keep him away from Alex Pietrangelo.
The two used to be the perfect pair together. Now, Pietrangelo seems to be part of the defensive problem and definitely not a good combination for Bouwmeester.
At this stage, I don’t care which one you put on the top pairing. Keep them separated though and they might play well again.
We have seen them paired together again since Petro’s injury was done and the results have been mixed at best. It would be best for all involved to let them play with others.