While Jay Bouwmeester is recovering well from his successful Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator procedure, there are questions about his future as far as playing contact sports go. Specifically, will he ever return to the St. Louis Blues?
Obviously, if he were to return, it wouldn’t be this season and the Blues went out and acquired Marco Scandella to try and fill the hole left by Bouwmeester’s absence.
Fans are, first and foremost, concerned over Bouwmeester’s health but also want to know what is in his future with the team. It sounds like we’ll hear more about this next week as Jay and GM Doug Armstrong are holding a press conference to provide a more in-depth update.
The likelihood is that Bouwmeester will announce his retirement as there is really no way he’ll be allowed to play in the NHL with an internal defibrillator. The device sits in your pectoral muscle and its wires goes through your main veins into your heart. Should he take a hit or exert himself in any real way, the device would trigger.
We wrote in an earlier article:
In short, athletes with an ICD device represent a diverse group of individuals who may be at an increased risk of sudden cardiac death when engaging in vigorous physical activity. Professional hockey (or any hockey for that matter) would certainly qualify. Recommendations suggest sports that are not considered low intensity be avoided. Something like bowling and/or golf might qualify as low intensity.
And, if retirement is the plan, at this point he should be extremely proud of his NHL career and all he’s done for hockey. You never know, maybe coaching or an executive position with the team is in his future. He’d be a shoe-in for a job in management.
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