Truth or Dare

This past Tuesday, former NHL defensive forward and Selke Trophy recipient Michael Peca said on TSN that thinks Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is a bit overrated. It was a slightly harsh, yet honest criticism that has brought the wrath of the Calgary Flames brass. One line jumped out at me from Peca's critique (transcribed by Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy):

"I enjoyed playing against him. He turned pucks over. He made the game easier to play."

Which got me wondering: how much experience does Peca have against Bouwmeester in his playing career. As it turns out, Peca isn't quite the Jay Bouwmeester expert.

In the 6 seasons the two players' careers overlapped, Peca and Bouwmeester met a grand total of 10 times, with Peca's teams enjoying a 5-3-2 (2 ties) record in those games. Peca himself put up 1G, 3A and an even +/- rating in those 10 contests while Bouwmeester had 3A and an even +/- himself. To me, none of these numbers seem to back up Peca's claims.

Peca's career record and lack of experience against Bouwmeester doesn't exactly help Peca in his agruement. So while Peca is allowed to say the thing's he said about the flaws he sees in  Jay Bouwmeester's game, perhaps throwing around lines like "He wasn't a tough guy to play against" and "He's one of those guys you looked forward to playing against" should be reserved for players Michael Peca actually played against more than a handful of times in a half dozen seasons.

I would dare say that several current members of the Washington Capitals, a team that actually played Bouwmeester's former team, the Panthers, quite frequently, would be a better judge of whether he was tough to play against.