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Jay Bouwmeester has played 737 games in a row, not missing one since the 2003-2004 season.That makes him not only the NHL's resident iron man, it makes him professional sports' iron man. Unfortunately, the iron man ran into a bit of a problem, injured his "lower body," and is now undergoing treatment somewhere that Ken Hitchcock doesn't want you to know about.
Chris Butler is now the Blues' official seventh defenseman. Tonight he could suit up against the Winnipeg Jets. We have an hour to find out, but right now it isn't looking good for the league's toughest working defenseman. Luck finally caught up with him.
Wrap your mind around this, though: eight 82 game seasons and one lockout one, playing every game, playing top pairing minutes and special teams - that's more than 22 minutes a night. Bouwmeester has played 16,214 minutes during that span.