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Ducks, Cam Fowler Reportedly Exploring Trade Options

September 6, 2024 at 8:47 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 4 Comments

After over a decade in Orange County, defenseman Cam Fowler’s time with the Ducks may soon come to an end. Both he and the team are in the early stages of exploring trade options in what Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman called a “positive working environment” on Friday’s episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast.

[Fowler’s] a little bit older. They’ve got a lot of good young players, and eventually what you’ve got to start doing is you’ve got to say, ’You know what, Cam, we have to start taking some of your ice time so that these other players learn what it’s like to play in the important situations’… Fowler knows that when they’re good and they’re really ready to contend, it’s going to be their team and not his team.

Fowler, 32, has been a staple on the Anaheim blue line ever since they made him the 12th overall pick in the 2010 draft. He hit the NHL full-time the following season, stepping into a top-four role on a team in the throes of playoff contention.

While never cementing himself as a true star defender, he’s been remarkably consistent across a 974-game NHL career that’s spanned 14 seasons. He’s averaged over 20 minutes per game in every year of his career thus far, and his offensive production never varies too much from his career average of 0.47 points per game.

Fowler has only received outside Norris Trophy consideration once. It was in 2017 after he scored a career-high 11 goals, averaged another career-high 24:51 per game, and played a pivotal role in the Ducks advancing to the Western Conference Final. That performance spurned Fowler’s big payday – an eight-year, $52MM extension he signed immediately upon becoming eligible in the 2017 offseason that kicked in for the 2018-19 campaign.

He’s now entering the final two seasons of that deal, which carries a $6.5MM cap hit. The Windsor, Ontario native is still Anaheim’s undisputed top defender, averaging north of 24 minutes per night over the last three years. His offensive output has remained at, if not slightly above, his career average as the Ducks tore down their roster in the late 2010s in anticipation of their ongoing post-Ryan Getzlaf rebuild.

The past two campaigns have been difficult for the club, especially in their own end. That’s led to some pretty eye-popping numbers for Fowler, who’s posted a combined -59 rating in 163 games since the start of 2022-23. He may be logging the most ice time among Ducks defenders, but he’s not receiving the most challenging matchups. His offensive and defensive zone starts at even strength have remained relatively even, as they have for most of his career.

Poor goaltending doesn’t drag down that rating too much. His possession numbers have been legitimately bad, controlling only 46.1% of expected goals at even strength over the past two seasons, per Hockey Reference. However, his shot attempt shares were above team average during that time, a fact that the Ducks’ front office will likely point out in trade talks to prove that reports of Fowler’s defensive demise are exaggerated.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek will likely need to retain a small amount of Fowler’s remaining salary to move him. Only nine teams have the cap space for Fowler’s full $6.5MM hit if a trade were to happen today, per PuckPedia, and nearly all of them are in rebuilds themselves or still have a significant financial commitment to make this offseason to one or more unsigned restricted free agents. But doing so wouldn’t be an issue for Anaheim, which is only $2.1MM above the cap floor and has all three of its salary retention slots open.

Fowler largely has control over where he ends up as talks advance. The defender has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit a list of four teams to which he’d be willing to accept a trade. However, Friedman reports he’s willing to give the Ducks more teams to work with outside of the list, which he already submitted to the team over the summer.

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View Comments (4)

Comments

  1. fightcitymayor

    10 months ago

    Fowler was logging 22 minutes a night as a 19-year-old rookie & has a been a blueline constant for Anaheim ever since. Seems like he’s been around forever, but always underrated.

    3
    Reply
  2. JustPete

    10 months ago

    Why move Fowler now. The Ducks have committed to a “let ‘em play” season with a bunch of young players and new faces. Fowler could add experience, mentoring and stability to the team and the youngsters. They can always move him at the deadline and eat less of his salary.

    Reply
    • jminn

      10 months ago

      It might take that long to find a team that wants him and his salary. He can still play a tone of minutes but his ability and skill set are a bit questionable at this stage of his career. Plus he really never became the star he was hyped up to be.

      1
      Reply
  3. jdgoat

    10 months ago

    That money is definitely an issue, but I’d like Ottawa to bring in an established LHD. I think Kleven has a style that could make a fairly seamless transition to the NHL, but they’re putting a lot of trust in him by making him a full time top 6 NHL player.

    Reply

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