Boulerice calls Kesler, gets cut

On Monday, the Flyers placed former Hurricanes tough guy Jesse Boulerice on waivers. This comes just days after Boulerice was handed a record-tying 25 game suspension for his vicious crosscheck to the face of Canucks skater Ryan Kesler. No team will be expected to touch the waste of space with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

In his short and fruitless career, Boulerice, who once cited The Garfield Christmas Movie as his favorite, (see this video as proof) has caused trouble everywhere he has gone.

In April of 1998, while playing with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League, Boulerice swung his stick a la Chris Simon at the head of Andrew Long, who played for Guelph Storm. After reviewing the video, OHL officials determined that Boulerice would be suspended for the entire 1998-99 season including the preseason and playoffs.

Boulerice was sent up to the AHL the next season, and the suspension didn't come with him.

He spent the next couple of years bouncing between the AHL and ECHL, putting up astonishing PIM numbers but not doing much of anything else. In 2000-01 with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL, he put up 256 PIM in 60 games played. If you're scoring along at home, that's more than four and a quarter minutes per game played. That number is roughly equivalent to his average TOI in the NHL.

Unfortunately, Boulerice was dealt to the Hurricanes in February of 2002. He completed that season in Lowell, piling up 80 PIM in just 15 games. 5.33 PIM per game.

Boulerice was called up to the big team for the 2002-03 season, where he made a lasting impression on February 11, 2003 as "the guy who got knocked the eff out by Aaron Downey" in a one-punch fight.


He continued to serve the role of agitator/pugilist for the 03-04 season, but when we came back from the lockout, there was little room for him in the "new NHL". He started on the big club, but about a month into the season, the Canes opted to keep the skilled players on the ice and eliminated his roster spot. He was sent down to Lowell, and ultimately was used as part of a multi-player deal to get Doug Weight from the Blues.

Boulerice didn't make any fans in St. Louis. During one of his first practice sessions, he allegedly checked teammate Ryan Johnson WAY too hard, and the result was a broken foot for Johnson. There was also some talk of a locker room fight involving Jesse and, at some point, a chair. The Blues knew they had a cancer on their hands, and despite an injury-depleted roster, they released him after just a few days.

Somehow, Jesse ended up back in the Carolina organization during the 2006-07 campaign, but only played a handful of games with Lowell before being cut.

This season, despite having colossally deficient in any skill category, he managed to make the Flyers roster. On the big club. Presumably to protect their $10M investment Daniel Briere.

We all know what happened next.

Also on Monday, it was reported that Boulerice made a little bit of good by calling Ryan Kesler to offer his apology. Kesler was "taken aback", and appreciated the effort by Boulerice. At least there's that.

I think we can safely assume that "the Bull" won't be playing in the NHL any more.