AgentNaslund*
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Jay Bou was proclamined the next great defencemen. The once in every decade type of guy. Smooth Skater with size. HIs production is a disapointment so far. Like Kiril Koltsov shouldnt outscore him.
Boltprospects said:In other words he's a teddy bear. Maybe questioning his "heart" as I did has too much of a negative connotation to be appropriate, but what you're saying here is exactly the same thing I perceive: a lack of tenacity/ambition. Going back to what Vlad said in comparing Vinny to Bouwmeester, there was no lack of tenacity or ambition in Vinny. He understood he was drafted to be the "savior" of the Lightning franchise and he tried to meet that challenge to live up to that with varying degrees of success. He wanted to be the youngest captain in the league, he wanted that C. He didn't shy away from it. He wasn't ready for that responsibility, but he wanted to lead.
Boltprospects said:He wanted to go after Iginla and throw hands in game two of the finals. It didn't have the kind of slingshot effect he maybe wanted for the rest of his game, but he took that responsibility to physically challenge Jarome. He wanted to lead his team. And from a production standpoint, he's had 20 or mor+e goals from his sophomore campaign in the league on, so from a goalscoring standpoint he's really always been a leader by action on this team.
Boltprospects said:I don't sense Bouwmeester wants that responsibility or has that tenacity/ambition. I don't think it's in his nature to want to be "the franchise" the way Lecavalier has always at least tried to be. And that's why I said he might be better off on a good team surrounded by good talent because in that situation he can have a certain degree of anonymity as just another cog in the machine. He could do that in a place like New Jersey or Tampa or Detroit, he can't do that in Florida. That's probably why he plays better for the national team than he does with his pro club be it in Florida or San Antonio. So I question whether there's a good fit there, although he should be able to post very respectable point totals of 30-45 points a season with the Panthers some time in the near future and continue to gobble up 20-25 minutes a night.
Boltprospects said:You can only be told "the future is coming be patient" so many years before its tar and feather time.
Boltprospects said:And the nature of the defenseman position is that, other than goaltender, your mistakes stand out more so than any position on the team and that makes you a focal point for frustration. Here in Tampa, we eat our own defensemen alive. Pretty unfairly, but we do it. I suspect South Florida will be no different, especially as the next 2-3 years roll by and they continue to see they're not catching up fast enough to what Tampa and Atlanta are doing in the division.