Blues provide update on Jay Bouwmeester's status for Return to Play

The St. Louis Blues are hoping that the NHL's Return to Play plan leads to a repeat of last year's playoff performance when the team won its first Stanley Cup in franchise history. However, the club will be going into the playoffs without veteran defenceman Jay Bouwmeester.

"[Head coach Craig] Berube says that Bouwmeester is back in Canada and will NOT be with the Blues in Edmonton," the Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford posted to Twitter.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's still unclear whether the 36-year-old Bouwmeester will ever play again after his unfortunate incident earlier in the 2019-20 season. On February 11th, during the first period of a game versus the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Bouwmeester went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the bench during a television time out following a long shift with the score tied at one. On February 14th, Bouwmeester had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) procedure to restore his heart's normal rhythm.

In 56 games this season, Bouwmeester had one goal and nine points. If he doesn't get back to playing, he can take some comfort in the fact that his name has been etched on the Stanley Cup, although its certain Bouwmeester will do whatever he can to get back on the ice with his teammates.

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