"Jay Bouwmeester is used to putting in big minutes, so maybe it shouldn't be surprising his time card would be just nine seconds short of 31 minutes during Tuesday's 3-2 exhibition win over the Vancouver Canucks.

No one else, however, was even close. No one else came within eight minutes of his time.

Beyond his regular shifts, the about-to-turn 27-year-old took turns at penalty killing and power plays where, apparently, he's now being considered as a screen. At least he continued in that role during Wednesday's practice.

At six-foot-four and 214 pounds, he can make it extremely difficult for a goaltender to see past him.

"It's probably experimental right now," he said of his new role, smiling. "I'll do whatever they want me to. It's different. I've never really played forward or anything.

"It's not so much standing in front of the net, it's when the puck is going other places knowing where you have to go. Just a lot of different reads. But I know as a defenceman you always like it when someone's standing in front of the net, so we'll try to do that."

Coach Brent Sutter says nothing is cut in stone as the team continues to explore new avenues for boosting its offence this season.

"That's one option," he admitted of Bouwmeester's screening duties. "We're trying different things. We'd like to see Bo more involved in a lot of different ways and get him more involved in different ways and that's one of them."

As far as playing 31-minute games, well, that's a little above the 27- to 28-minute average he toiled throughout last National Hockey League season.

"Obviously, he puts up minutes, but we need quality minutes," said Sutter of his $6.6-million-a-year rearguard. "It's not about quantity, it's about quality and if he's going to be a 27 to 30-minute guy, then we need quality minutes in that period of time."