Blues' Bouwmeester 'Feeling Pretty Normal,' Ruled Out for Season

Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester won't play again this season as he recovers from a heart procedure, which was needed after collapsing on the team's bench on Feb. 11 against the Anaheim Ducks. 

"I'm at the point now I feel pretty good,” Bouwmeester told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s kind of the weird thing about this whole thing. Something happened totally out of the blue and unexpected, being in the hospital for a couple of days. Now there are some restrictions as to what I can do, but I feel pretty normal. That’s a good thing.

"There’s been a lot going on. [The future] is something I'm definitely going to have to evaluate. Wouldn’t say I've done that fully yet. There’s decisions I’m going to have to make."

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Bouwmeester's decision to sit out the remainder of the year, regular season and playoffs, came after speaking with GM Doug Armstrong. 

"We both understand that he won’t participate in the regular season or playoffs for us," Armstrong said. "We talked about longer-term things that may or may not happen."

On the night of Feb. 11, the Blues defenseman suffered a cardiac episode during the first period of the Ducks-Blues game. 

Bouwmeester, who logged 5:34 of ice time in the game, had just cleared the puck and skated off the ice to the bench before collapsing. He was taken off the bench via a stretcher.

He later underwent a successful Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) heart procedure at UC Irvine Medical Center in Anaheim and spent five nights at the hospital.

The 36-year-old defenseman has recorded nine points this season, scoring one goal and eight assists through 56 games of action. For his career, he's played 1,240 regular-season NHL games with Florida, Calgary and the Blues. 

He won a Stanley Cup with the Blues last season and won an Olympic gold medal with Canada in 2014.

"I’m a hockey player, I like to play hockey, so sure, you’d like to be out there, but when you put everything in perspective, it’s OK to take a step back right now," he said.