Tale of two seasons
Before Christmas, I would say Bouwmeester's stock had dropped. I had even heard rumours that he was boozing it up. I was never able to substantiate those, however.
In his first 38 games, he scored 12 points, all on assists and was minus 12.
Since then (starting with his first multipoint game of the season on Dec. 28) he has started to put up the numbers people expected of him. All along, Martin has been giving him a ton of ice time and I think that might have helped Bouwmeester work things out. He strikes me as a guy whose confidence would take a big hit if he got benched. Maybe I'm wrong.
His stats in the 36 games since then are pretty darn good: 3 goals, 26 assists and plus 12.
In the first half, I wouldn't even mention Bouwmeester in the same breath as Pitkanen. The Flyer was way more advanced than Bouwmeester. Now, the gap is considerable smaller, if not gone. As for Phaneuf, comparing either Pitkanen or JayBo to him is unfair. Phaneuf is a different kind of player. They will never be like Phaneuf. It's like comparing Ray Bourque to Scott Stevens. Both were great, but they played different styles.
I know one thing, Bouwmeester and Phaneuf will be patrolling the blueline for my favourite team in 2010. Fear the Maple Leaf -- and no, not the blue kind.
