Confirmed with Link: JBow extended one year @ $3.25

[Dbrownss]

Doug and his patience strikes again....

 

[BrokenFace]

That's a real head-scratcher for me. I would have counted my blessings that he was playing better this year and wished him well in free agency. As long as he's on the team, we're going to be tempted to play him in the top 4 when Dunn and Eddy are clearly better options.

Edit: Here's one person's opinion

If they aren't separating his second half from his first, this analysis isn't telling an accurate picture.

Ever since his ironman streak ended years ago, J-bo has been as good or bad as he is healthy or unhealthy. Happy to have him back at that cap hit. Hope his body doesn't let him down and we can resign him to another cheap 1 year contract a year from now.

 

[TheDizee]

thats a pretty fair contract and i am thrilled it is only 1 year. year by year contracts for jbo moving forward. hes been great for 2/3 of the season but you cant just ignore how bad he looked before he got healthy.

 

[Ranksu]

1-year deal its fine.

I really don't like IF Gunnar gets extension.

 

[David Dennison]

A good one year spot holder. Blues don't have much NHL ready depth on D, Reinke is probably the closest but does he have a NHL ceiling and does he fit on a roster where he isn't getting power play time?

Others (Mikkola, Walman are the other two that cone to mind) got things to work on and shouldn't be counted on to take a roster spot next year.

 

[Evocable Manager]

Not to mention his on-ice save percentage since December has been close to .950. So that’s why he’s “improved.”

DA fooled by randomness once again....ugh.

 

[bluesfan94]

Not to mention his on-ice save percentage since December has been close to .950. So that’s why he’s “improved.”

DA fooled by randomness once again....ugh.

On the other hand, Bouwmeester wasn't entirely healthy until December and this analysis does a bad job of teasing that out.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Imagine a graph having Dunn and Butler as our best d pairing

I don’t think anyone is realistically expecting Bouwmeester to produce 30 points no matter how much ice time he is given. However I am expecting him to be fantastic defensively.

 

[execwrite1]

Excellent move. Score one for the old guys who can still play.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Good guy, respected by his teammates, very good Dman.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Great deal, hope he keeps up his 2nd half play next season

 

[BlueOil]

it's a good deal in years and numbers

hopefully eddy can regain his form and bouw can shift to the third pairing next year

 

[LGB]

Bouwmeester 1st half vs 2nd half:

	GP	TOI	CF%	GF/60	xGF/60	GA/60	xGA/60
Up to Jan. 12	39	666.25	46.61	1.89	2.30	2.79	2.57
After Jan. 12	39	757.05	49.22	1.66	2.24	1.35	2.27

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Bouwmeester has obviously improved both by the eye-test and in his numbers the second half of the season. Before I start criticizing him I will say I have absolutely no problem with this deal and no one should since it is for one year and should not impact our ability to sign anyone. The most obvious improvement is in Bouwmeester's on-ice GA totals, but as you can see his xGA has not come down nearly as much. While he has improved he is also benefitting from a pretty inflated on-ice save percentage. I still think Bouwmeester and Parayko is not an ideal pairing because neither of them are really offensive catalysts so even though they have an incredibly low GA/60 we aren't really benefitting as much as you'd think because of the incredibly low GF/60 to go with it.

 

[LGB]

Imagine a graph having Dunn and Butler as our best d pairing

It's a 72 minute sample size.

 

[Novacain]

Isn’t Corsi’s fatal flaw is treating all shots equally, or is that corrected there? Cause the Blues biggest strength is limiting quality shots against in the 2nd half, and JBo has been a definite asset there.

 

[ZigZagBluesFan]

I like the deal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hang it up after next season but this will be a great deal if he plays like he has in the second half.

 

[RaleighBlues]

Perfect term and the right money.

 

[LETSGOBLUES88]

I really like Bo’s play over the 2nd half, and IF that style and quality of play keeps up then the money could be a good deal going into next year!

Ironic though that I was just watching NHLNetwork and they put up a list of the main UFA’s going into next season and I had the thought: “I wonder if Army uses Bo’s near 6 mil cap hit to go toward someone on this list” and not five seconds later it scrolls at the bottom that Bo re-signed

 

[Brian39]

Isn’t Corsi’s fatal flaw is treating all shots equally, or is that corrected there? Cause the Blues biggest strength is limiting quality shots against in the 2nd half, and JBo has been a definite asset there.

Expected goals are a different metric than Corsi and attempts to adjust for shot quality.

The Importance of Expected Goals - Blueshirts Breakaway

 

[David Dennison]

I will always love Bouw pre/post-game interviews. Idk if he has wicked bad anxiety or if he is just a western Canadian man-of-few-words type, but there is something relatable about looking like a deer in headlights when public speaking.

 

[CoMoBlues]

Imagine a graph having Dunn and Butler as our best d pairing

I don’t think anyone is realistically expecting Bouwmeester to produce 30 points no matter how much ice time he is given. However I am expecting him to be fantastic defensively.

I Laughed Out Loud at your post. Good work my man! However, I’m glad they brought back Bouw for at least one more year. That money for 1 year was less than some HF folks here we’re speculating he’d get just a few weeks ago.

 

[mk80]

Bouwmeester has certainly improved his play from earlier in the year. Personally I would have been fine moving on from him regardless however, I'm not opposed to this contract either.

 

[The Grouch]

So I guess this is the end for Gunnarsson in a Blue Note?

If Gunnarsson doesn't return what does everyone think the Blues will do for the 7th and 8th defensemen next season? I think it's probable that Chris Butler is re-signed, but he's probably not the Blues' option A for the 7th defenseman. As has been mentioned maybe one of Schmaltz, Mikkola, Reinke, or Walman can take the job. The Blues haven't seemed to favor the job Schmaltz has done so far but that could change. Reinke and Mikkola are at the age that you look for minor pros to take the next step, but even if they're good enough to make the jump to NHL they may be better off playing heavy minutes in the minors than playing limited minutes in the NHL.

I wonder if the Blues will look for a veteran on a bargain contract(Wideman, Methot, if he looks healthy, Polak, etc.). Though not my personal preference, maybe they bring Del Zotto and/or Jerabek back? What does everyone think?

 

[mk80]

I wonder if the Blues will look for a veteran on a bargain contract(Wideman, Methot, if he looks healthy, Polak, etc.). Though not my personal preference, maybe they bring Del Zotto and/or Jerabek back? What does everyone think?

I really think we are better putting that $1M we are spending on Jerabek toward someone else. I think it's reasonable for Del Zotto to return and I wouldn't mind having him back, but maybe like you said they want to get the rookies a look in camp.

 

[Brian39]

So I guess this is the end for Gunnarsson in a Blue Note?

If Gunnarsson doesn't return what does everyone think the Blues will do for the 7th and 8th defensemen next season? I think it's probable that Chris Butler is re-signed, but he's probably not the Blues' option A for the 7th defenseman. As has been mentioned maybe one of Schmaltz, Mikkola, Reinke, or Walman can take the job. The Blues haven't seemed to favor the job Schmaltz has done so far but that could change. Reinke and Mikkola are at the age that you look for minor pros to take the next step, but even if they're good enough to make the jump to NHL they may be better off playing heavy minutes in the minors than playing limited minutes in the NHL.

I wonder if the Blues will look for a veteran on a bargain contract(Wideman, Methot, if he looks healthy, Polak, etc.). Though not my personal preference, maybe they bring Del Zotto and/or Jerabek back? What does everyone think?

I think the Blues will pay a veteran about $1-1.2 mil to be the 7th D man, hoping that he is passed up by an internal guy at some point throughout the year. From what I've seen so far, I wouldn't be mad if that was Del Zotto. Next year is shaping up to be a "go for it" year, even if it isn't an "all in" year. We've got the cap space to bury a few hundred thousand in the minors if they don't work out and that seems better than relying on a rookie as #7 and then needing to trade a mid round pick for help if they don't work out. Plus, Army always love defensive depth, so it just feels like his style.

I hope it isn't Jerabek. That was a failed gamble (albeit not a very costly one).

I fully expect that at least 1 of Reinke, Mikkola, or Walman will get a decent look in the NHL at some point when injuries hit. Even if they have a small chance of making the roster out of camp, they will be competing to prove to the coaches who deserves to be the first call up even if they can't force the penciled-in #7 onto waivers out of camp.