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| - Jay Bouwmeester, the 36-year-old defenseman who collapsed with a cardiac episode for the reigning NHL champion St. Louis Blues, was ruled out Wednesday for the remainder of the season. The veteran of 17 NHL seasons, who helped Canada capture Olympic gold in 2014 at Sochi, collapsed on the Blues bench during the first period of a game two weeks ago at Anaheim and was revived with a defibrillator as his stunned teammates watched before being taken to a nearby hospital. Bouwmeester had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator procedure on February 14 to restore his heart's normal rhythm. "Jay and I have spoken over the last week or so and we both understand that he won't participate this year in the regular season or playoffs for us," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. Bouwmeester has recovered well enough to visit with his teammates. "I'm at the point now where I feel pretty good," Bouwmeester said. "There are some restrictions as to what I can do." Bouwmeester's future will be considered after this season, Armstrong said. "We talked about longer term things that may or may not happen and both feel that it's February -- you don't have to make long term decisions at this point," Armstrong said. "He'll address those things as the summer progresses." The game, which was halted at 1-1, will be replayed for a full 60 minutes on March 11. Bouwmeester, traded to the Blues by Calgary in 2013, has scored 17 goals and set up 107 others over 490 regular-season games with the Blues. "Just kind of taking small steps right now," Bouwmeester said. "It's tough but honestly hockey hasn't really been at the front of my mind the last couple of weeks. "It puts things in perspective. Sure, I'd like to be out there, but when you put everything in perspective it's OK to take a step back right now. It's a scary thing but everything's going pretty good lately and we'll continue to evaluate things as they go." Bouwmeester scored one goal and assisted on eight others over 56 games for the Blues this season after helping the club win its first Stanley Cup title last year. js/rcw
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