Garth =

McLennan of
sports editor the

best parts of
the NHL’s
annual

trade deadline, which falls on March
4" this year, is speculating where

     
 

 

the biggest players will ship off to.
The best available defenseman, Jay
Bouwmeester, is really one of the more
interesting cases this year.
Bouwmeester, 25, is a Team
Canada veteran at the Olympic,
World Championship, World Junior
Championship and World Cup levels
and was picked by the Florida Panthers
3" overall back in the 2002 NHL entry
draft. Since then he’s only suited up
for the Panthers in the NHL and has
often been the lone bright light on some
pretty bad teams.
Bouwmeester is in the final
year of his contract and while
Panther’s management has been
trying desperately to keep the former
Medicine Hat Tiger in Miami,
Bouwmeester has rebuked all of their
offers. While Florida has offered him
a hefty raise on the $4.875 million he
earned this year, they haven’t gotten
very far. Bouwmeester has cited the
team’s chronically poor performance

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and a lack of confidence in the
Panthers’ future as the primary reasons
for his refusal to sign a new contract.

The difficult part for Florida
is that they are actually performing
extremely well this season. They are
currently sitting seventh in the Eastern
Conference standings and are well on
their way to the team’s first playoff
berth since 2000. However, this clearly
hasn’t restored Bouwmeester’s faith
in the organization and if they can’t
get him on board then Panther’s GM
Jacques Martin has a major decision
to make. Does he keep Bouwmeester
until the end of the season and make a
run for the playoffs? Or does he deal
Bouwmeester now and hope to get
something for him while he can?

Either way, the team’s fan base, or
what’s left of it, won’t be happy. Losing
Bouwmeester would be another blow
to a tortured group that has to commute
out into the middle of nowhere for
Panthers’ games to support a club that
hasn’t made a playoff appearance, in
an often-weak conference. In almost
nine years they have watched while the
team’s best players, Roberto Luongo
and Olli Jokinen have departed for
greener pastures.

Still, Bouwmeester would
undoubtedly fetch a high return. He

 

Could Bouwmeester go East Coast to West Coast?

is a highly-skilled, smooth-skating
defenseman who is one of the league’s
best passers. In six NHL seasons, he’s
played the full schedule five times and
when you consider that he’s only 25,
that is a remarkable feat. At 6’4, 214
pounds, he’s a big, mobile defender
with a massive wingspan. He’s
incredibly solid at both ends of the rink
and is the type of defenseman that any
team would want.

Interestingly enough, the
Vancouver Canucks have reportedly
been a strong potential suitor for
Bouwmeester. With Vancouver having
tons of cap room they can easily
accommodate the pending free agent’s
salary for this year and beyond. Gillis
hasn’t exactly been gun-shy about
going after a blockbuster by moving to
acquire Jay Bouwmeester; he would be
sending a strong message to his players,
the fans and the rest of the league that
the Canucks are serious about making a
legitimate playoff push this season.

The most persistent rumour has
Vancouver shipping Cory Schneider,
Taylor Pyatt and a draft pick to Florida
for Bouwmeester. While Schneider is
undoubtedly a future star, with Luongo
between the pipes for Vancouver it
will be tough for him to further his
development in the long run. Losing

Pyatt wouldn’t be a bad thing for the
Canucks even if we got nothing in
return and if Jacques Martin wants him,
please, let him have him.

The only significant drawback
would be that the incoming of
Bouwmeester would mean the
departure of Matthias Ohlund. Ohlund
is also heading into unrestricted free
agency and while he’s played his
entire career with the Canucks, he’s
clearly lost a step and it’s been reported
that he is seeking a five or six-year
contract, which would be a big risk for
Vancouver to take.

Playing in Vancouver’s favour
is that if the Panthers are forced to
trade their star defenseman, they
would be loath to flip him to an
Eastern Conference rival. And when
you consider that they are still very
much in the playoff hunt, and that
the only ones buying at the deadline
are other contenders, don’t bank on
Bouwmeester staying in the East. If a
rebuilding club wants him they won’t
give up prospects and picks to have
him now, they’!I wait until July 1“ for
free agency, when the only thing they’ll
have to give up is money.