Any idiot — say, for example, a sports reporter — can identify the extra output.
Calgary Flames sparkplug Lance Bouma had scored only a handful of goals in parts of three previous seasons at the NHL level. Suddenly, last winter, he snipes 16.
What Bouma’s bosses and buddies identify, more than anything you’ll find on the stat-sheet, is the extra confidence.
“Especially down the stretch last year, I can think of probably four or five times he’d be coming down that wing and in the past, he would have maybe just thrown a soft one on net and then just drive and try to cause a scrum,” said fellow Flames forward Joe Colborne.