Bouwmeester out for season for Blues with hip injury

HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- Jay Bouwmeester will miss the remainder of the season for the St. Louis Blues because of an injury to his left hip.
The defenseman will have surgery and is expected to need 4-6 months to recover.

"I've had, hopefully, the same thing on my other hip, so I know kind of the whole deal with what goes on with that," Bouwmeester said, referring to a hip injury earlier in his NHL career. "You do what you can to play until you can't play anymore. ... I think at a certain point you just have to think down the road, and for me that's just the best thing, is to get it fixed and move on."
Bouwmeester missed nine games after he injured his hip Dec. 10 against the Buffalo Sabres, but the 34-year-old returned to play after receiving an injection rather than opting for surgery at the time.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said he was fine with Bouwmeester trying to play through the injury instead of getting surgery right away.
"Jay wanted to get the injection and play through it," Armstrong said. "That's why he has been limited to no practice time. We were trying to work him the best way possible with that hip."
Bouwmeester was re-injured in the second period of a 3-2 overtime loss at the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
"He sustained the injury in Dallas to the point where another injection wasn't possible and the surgery was going to be required," Armstrong said.
Bouwmeester missed the first 21 games of the season with a fractured ankle after blocking a shot in training camp. He returned Nov. 21 against the Edmonton Oilers.
"I came back and played the next 10 games, and this kind of happened," Bouwmeester said. "At that point, you want to play. That's what you do, you want to play. It was OK for a while, and then it just kind of deteriorated over the last little bit. I knew it was going to be something kind of awkward that would set things off. It kind of is what it is."
Bouwmeester has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 35 games this season.
St. Louis forward Scottie Upshall is out after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Dallas. He will be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Upshall, 34, has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 61 games this season.
"We'll get him training and we'll get him back as soon as we can," Armstrong said of Upshall. "... He'll work as hard as he can to get back as quick as possible. Hopefully, we've gone on a nice run at that point."
The Blues are two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They play the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-MW, NHL.TV).