It’s been a busy week for NHL trades, and the NHL Trade Deadline is still a little less than three months away. The Anaheim Ducks have been at the forefront of two trades, acquiring Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers about a week ago. Today, they sent Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues. Here are the full details:
To the Blues:
- Cam Fowler
- 2027 fourth-round pick
To Ducks:
- 2027 second-round pick
- D Jeremie Biakabatuka
- Ducks retain $2.5 million of Fowler’s $6.5 million cap hit
This trade makes plenty of sense for the Ducks. They have a surplus of young defensemen who needed playing time, but they didn’t have enough open roster spots for everyone to play. Trading Fowler solves that problem. As for the Blues, I’m not sure what the vision is here. Let’s grade each side.
Blues Add Another Aging Defenseman on a Bad Contract
The Blues’ blue line is a bit of a mess. They tried getting younger when they signed Philip Broberg to an offer sheet this summer. He’s looked solid to start his Blues tenure, so you figured that would be the plan moving forward to try and improve an already mediocre blue line. But acquiring Fowler strays further from that plan.
Fowler had a solid season in 2023-24, totaling 39 points in 81 games, but his numbers have fallen off a cliff this season. Perhaps that’s because the Ducks aren’t a particularly good team, but it also looks like Fowler’s play has declined significantly:
yeah pic.twitter.com/WQhhlKN95G
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 14, 2024
As the chart above shows, the Ducks have had some outrageously poor defensive numbers when Fowler has been on the ice at five-on-five. They were giving up 3.84 expected goals per 60 minutes in his five-on-five minutes, and his inability to defend the rush is a significant reason his defensive numbers have cratered.
Fowler still has offensive value, even though his counting totals might not show it; he has four points in 17 games this season. He can move the puck efficiently enough and should help the Blues there since they don’t have much in the way of puck-moving defensemen, especially with Torey Krug out of the lineup.
Related: Blues Don’t Move the Needle With Trade for Cam Fowler
Still, what’s the vision for the Blues and building their defense? They have five defensemen over the age of 30 signed to contracts with term, and three of them have cap hits over $6 million. It would be four if the Ducks didn’t retain $2.5 million on Fowler’s $6.5 million cap hit, too.
Maybe general manager Doug Armstrong felt the need to add a puck-moving defenseman was so dire that he had to pull the trigger on acquiring Fowler. But the results suggest they would’ve been better off waiting for something else to emerge. Otherwise, Fowler looks like more of the same, and he’s unlikely to improve their defense core much.
Blues Grade: D+
Ducks Clear Space for Young Defensemen
The Ducks’ acquisition of Trouba was questionable, but they did well moving Fowler to St. Louis. Not only did they free up roster space, but they also cleared some cap space for this season and next, even after retaining $2.5 million on his cap hit.
Pulling a second-round pick for Fowler in 2024 is good work, even if the pick isn’t until the 2027 draft, and now prospects like Jackson Lacombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger won’t have Fowler blocking them on the left side of the blue line. Zellweger and Mintyukov had been healthy scratches recently, a less than ideal situation, given where they are in their development.
And though the Trouba acquisition was questionable, he can at least shield the Ducks’ young defensemen who will get more playing time now that Fowler is in St. Louis. Overall, a decent bit of business by GM Pat Verbeek.
Ducks Grade: B+
Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
