Lance Bouma out for Season

The Calgary Flames announced that Lance Bouma for the rest of the season with a pulled oblique today. The news is disappointing, but hardly shocking given all of the injuries which Bouma has accrued this season. He only managed to play 44 games this season.

Bouma hardly lived up to his contract this season. The forward was paid this year by being a net front presence that could get to the right places and put the puck in the net. He was hardly in those right places this year, tallying just two goals in his 44 games. He often found himself demoted to the fourth line.

Bouma will have a lot of work to doing order to redeem himself next season. He was paid 2.2 million for three years in large part due to his goal scoring prowess. He is not exactly the greatest possession player and often finds himself in his own zone and has regressed on the penalty kill a bit as well. Hopefully the lack of production this season was due to his injuries or the Flames may find themselves on the wrong side of a bad contract.

by Les Mavus