Report: Lance Bouma's season is already over.

Another bad year for Bouma.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Report: Lance Bouma's season is already over.
Peter Joneleit/CSM/Zuma

This will feel like vindication for the few teams in the National Hockey League who considered taking a gamble on veteran winger Lance Bouma this summer but eventually decided against it. 

According to a report from the Swiss Hockey News, Bouma has suffered an extremely serious injury after just the first 3 games of the season and as a result is likely done for the remainder of the year. Initially the lower body injury suffered by Bouma did not appear to be too serious, at least not by comparison to what we know now, but further evaluation revealed significant damage to his knee. New reports now indicate that Bouma must undergo surgery in order to repair his damaged knee and that surgical procedure as well as the recovery period associated will keep him out for at least the remainder of the 2018- 2019 regular season. 

Bouma sniffed around for a contract at the National Hockey League level during the offseason but when no offers materialized he opted to instead sign with Geneve Servette of the Swiss League . It's unclear if Bouma was offered a professional tryout offer or not but what we do know is that if he was he opted to take the guaranteed money in Switzerland instead. Unfortunately for Geneve Servette they got him for all of 3 games before his season was over and it's now unclear if there is a future for Bouma within that organization. Geneve Servette was also burned with another former NHLer they signed as former San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Chicago Blackhawks center Tommy Wingels also signed with them and has also suffered a serious injury since signing that deal.

The good news here for Bouma is that he is 2 years younger than Wingels and that will make it more likely that he bounces back and is able to play again, and also makes it likely that his body will heal more effectively. Bouma began his career as a member of the Calgary Flames and had a few relatively successful seasons in that organization before eventually being cast aside. That largely marked the end career as an NHL player, the Blackhawks did sign him following his departure from Calgary but he lasted less than a season before being demoted to the American Hockey League. 

Although it's unlikely that he ever makes his way back to this side of the ocean as a professional hockey player we wish Bouma continued success in Europe and a full and speedy recovery from his current injury.

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