St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester had his iron man streak broken on November 23rd, when he missed the game against Winnipeg Jets, which the Blues were victorious in. Bouwmeester had a streak of 737 games. His streak started all the way back in the 2003-04 season, one year after he was drafted by the Florida Panthers, on February 27th 2004.
Bouwmeester got his start with the Panthers, after being drafted third overall. He played the full season, which was a franchise rookie record at the time. He was fourth overall in rookie defenseman scoring in the league for 02-03. In the next season, Bouwmeester improved. He had already equaled his previous career high of 16 points, then he got hurt the next game and missed the next 21 games. He came back and finished out the last fifteen games and garnered four points.
Bouwmeester spent the next four seasons on the Panthers blue line, playing in every 328 regular season game, and grabbing 167 points to boot. The Panthers found themselves in a bind, unable to come to terms with Bouwmeester, who was set to become an UFA. So rather than lose him for nothing, they traded him to the Calgary Flames for Jordan Leopold and a third round pick. The Flames were able to sign him to a five-year deal, and he started his career in a fresh scenery.
But the new scenery did not work out for both teams as hoped. The Flames were unable to make any real noise, despite putting up winning records in his first two seasons, the Flames were doused. Finally having enough of paying an elite cap hit, $6.6 million a year, and never hitting above 30 points, getting to the playoffs, or having any real impact on overall team results, the Flames decided to pull the plug and shipped him to the St. Louis Blues for two prospects and a first round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.
With the Blues, he was finally able to play in the playoffs, which he had never done in his career to that point. He played a whopping 764 regular season games before getting to the playoffs. Olli Jokinen, his former teammate in Calgary, holds the record for most games without making playoffs though, with 799.
Since suiting up for the Blues, Bouwmeester continued his iron man streak until this season. He played the final 14 games in 2012-13 after getting traded, the full 82 in 2013-14, and then 20 more before finally getting injured. He has been in the playoffs twice now, both first round losses in six games at the hands of the Kings and the Hawks, respectively.
His iron man streak is very impressive, especially in this era. It spanned just over a decade, went through two lockouts, three trades, and a whole boatload of time on ice. His record is fifth all-time on the list, behind Craig Ramsay(776), Steve Larmer(884), Gary Unger(914), and of course one of the most amazing records in NHL history, Doug Jarvis(964). Jarvis played 964 straight games, and not only that, but that was from the start of his career until his retirement. Add in his playoffs games, and you have 1,069 straight games. Bouwmeester’s record is exceptional nonetheless, and he also ranks second in most consecutive games played for defenseman behind Ramsay.
It was a great ride, Jay. Take a breather, you deserve it. Hope you got another 700 in you.
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