Minnesota Wild Season Grades: Pierre-Marc Bouchard

The Minnesota Wild's Masterson Trophy nominee, Pierre-Marc Bouchard has always provided some spine tingling moments. However, this season, when he returned to the ice at the X, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation? Goosebumps, spine tingling, name your cliche. Amazing stuff.

Twenty months away from the game with post concussion syndrome, Bouchard returned, and was productive. So many times he would hold the puck, and no one from the opposition would make a move toward him. There is so much respect for his ability to make a play, no one wanted to look silly trying to do something ill advised.

What did the HW staff have to say? Make the jump for the final forward to receive a grade. 

GRADES

JS- GRADE: A- Damn we missed you PMB! One of the best, if not the best, comeback stories this season, PMB came back from a year and half of no hockey and played like he hadn't missed a day. 38 points in 59 games is pretty damn close to his usual pace and he was dynamite with Havlat and Brodziak. He damn near saved the season as his return sparked a boost in wins for the Wild. He only scored 12 goals (with could've been around 17-18 in an 82 game season) but most of those goals were dazzling (OT breakaway, In-game spinorama) or important ones (2 gwg, 2 first goals, a whole bunch of late period goals) and all of them were even-strength goals, interestingly enough. A full season from him, especially if he keeps improving, should do wonders for this team. Welcome back Butch!

Elise- GRADE: A Pretty good 59 games for a guy who spent so much time recovering from a concussion. Great to see.

Cumulative GPA: 3.90 A

Final Thought

One word: Spin-o-rama.

Welcome back, Butch.