Confirmed with Link: [ANA/STL] Cam Fowler and 2027 4th round pick for 2027 2nd round and Jeremie Biakabutuka

12ozPapa

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Obviously we aren’t privy to conversations with either side, but there’s plenty that’s come out indicating both sides were ready to move on (the fact that this trade happened, PV trying to move him for Trouba, Fowler telling the team he was ready in the offseason and waiving his NTC), and nothing indicating the contrary. So while we don’t know for sure, we can make a pretty safe assumption
Totally agree. My point is, Verbeek should have, in my opinion, made an effort to put the player on a contender and show some respect to him. I know most here wanted him gone long ago, and have always been frustrated with him, but I just view it differently.

Regardless, MMC, you rock and I thank you for always being great to discuss shit with
 
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Leonardo87

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Maybe I’m misinterpreting this, but it seems to me like this could imply Cronin needs to win tonight to keep his job?


I dunno. But he has now made two big trades, at the 1/3rd mark of the season. If he is trying to right this ship now and not waste another season, will earn my respect. Hopefully Cronin’s seat is starting to get hot now. I just don’t see the offense magically improving unless the coaching and system changes.

As I said before this is year 3 of this 5 year plan. He has about 2 and 2/3rd of a season to make it right or his rebuild has failed. I honestly hope he gets forward help. Killorn contract is turning out to be a major issue. Strome one is not terrible, and the Vatrano has been a solid one , even if he is having a slow start….well the entire team really is.

Thank goodness Stamkos didn’t accept that offer here.
 
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FiveTacos

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I dunno. But he has now made two big trades, at the 1/3rd mark of the season. If he is trying to right this ship now and not waste another season, will earn my respect. Hopefully Cronin’s seat is starting to get hot now. I just don’t see the offense magically improving unless the coaching and system changes.

As I said before this is year 3 of this 5 year plan. He has about 2 and 2/3rd of a season to make it right or his rebuild has failed. I honestly hope he gets forward help. Killorn contract is turning out to be a major issue. Strome one is not terrible, and the Vatrano has been a solid one , even if he is having a slow start….well the entire team really is.

Thank goodness Stamkos didn’t accept that offer here.

If the McT rumors are true, seems they're truly looking to make a move for an impact player NOW. I don't think the Ducks would sell him for even younger prospects or picks. Whether an opportunity presents itself ... we'll see.
 
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Terry Yake

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We don’t owe Fowler 1,000 games, sure, but it’d be the classy thing to do.

You know Fowler? You guarantee he doesn’t care? Really?

The dude has been a f***ing soldier put in a spot way above his head since day one.

I think it’s a shitty way to treat a player like him - despite his struggles.

I know it’s a business, but 9 games away from 1,000 AND they trade him to a non-contender? Kind of shitty. Do right by the player who has been loyal and played well overall
or maybe he prioritized a trade over getting to 10k games as a duck?
 
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12ozPapa

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If Verbeek is thinking it’s playoff time for this coach/roster - we’re in f***ing trouble

The Ducks could lose every game for the rest of the year, finish dead last, and this still would be the right move.
I get it, but some seem to think that Fowler was THE issue on D
 

duckpuck

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The Fowler trade needed to happen due to the Trouba trade and surprise play of Helleson. It was inevitable. I don't like the asset mgmt for us in this trade, the Trouba trade, or the Meyer trade. We are desperate AF.

As for the trade happening sooner, I dunno why Fowler is often painted the one initiating things. Fowler has a NTC, but Verbeek "asked" him to open it up to more teams. Then it gets leaked that Verbeek tried to include Fowler in the Trouba trade. Verbeek needed Fowler out ASAP because we would be sitting more than one youth d-man each night we kept Fowler. Pat intimated that Fowler was out of the org for a long while now in his mob-style way, just like forcing a prospect not under contract into summer workouts.

As for "objective thinking", we didn't play worse with Fowler b/c I shared our SoS and recent pattern of struggling against weaker or like-wise teams before Fowler returned. People don't understand that we are a bad team.

Although he isn't traded to a playoff team, at least he was traded to an org that wants him. I wish Fowler the best and hope he gets paired with a defensive-minded RD.

Does Fowler seem upset by the trade? The video posted above seemed like he was happy with the trade.

He didn't have to waive for STL (a mediocre team that isn't really a contender), but he did. He wanted out - and it was probably a mutual feeling which is what was reported. Verbeek asked him to waive to facilitate what presumably both parties wanted. Again, Fowler didn't have to waive now (or ever). But he did - with a pregnant wife no less. That speaks volumes.

In terms of asset management, is seems fine to me. Ducks swap Fowler for Trouba (who is a better fit for this team) and acquire a few extra assets. Losing Vaak was probably a good thing since he was buried.

The only downside I see is the ducks have used one of their retention slots. It makes it harder to trade Gibson in the short term.

I wish Fowler well. He was a good player for a lot of years, but it was time.
 

Hamilton Bulldogs

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Well, that just looks f***ing weird
1734224075651.png

indeed
 

MMC

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I’m told as one final f*** you to the organization Cam took all the tortillas from the arena with him so we’re unable to have tacos as our free employee meal for working Disney On Ice all day and have to eat the chicken, rice, and beans by themselves

IMG_4033.jpeg
 

Anaheim4ever

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Killorn replaces Cam as the Whipping boy.
Edit: I just realized since Cam is now in the central division he gets to face Doan 2.0 more often in games vs Utah. Maybe he'll fire a puck at Doan.
 
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MMC

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Just before we get started, I wanted to make a quick statement that today was a difficult day. It was a difficult trade to make, especially with a person of Cam’s stature and his tenure with our organization. I think it's rare—and it's becoming increasingly rare—that a player spends this long with an organization.


So, having gone through that process today—and even yesterday—putting the trade together, it was a difficult time. 
This whole process started in the summertime where Cam and I and his agent, Pat Brisson, we had open discussions about Cam's future with the hockey club and as we kind of went through the summer and even through training camp, if opportunities arose, I would take that to Cam. It was kind of a real open dialogue and a real open and transparent situation for us and Cam.


As we kind of spilled into the months here, I think it became clear to both parties that Cam was looking for a change. So, when St. 
Louis approached us, it became mutual for both the organization and Cam that it would be a great opportunity for Cam to accept this opportunity to play in St. Louis.

And so having gone through all of that, it's always difficult and Cam's given so much to the organization. He’s given so much to the community of Anaheim and has meant a lot both on and off the ice. 
As always, we wish him the best and wish him good luck with his future team.



You said that St. Louis approached you about Fowler. Were they one of the teams that was on his trade list or did he have to waive in order for that to be completed?

St. Louis was not on his list. He had to waive his no-trade to go to St. Louis.

You said last week that the Jacob Trouba deal came together rather quickly. Did the acquisition of Trouba accelerate the process of finding Fowler a new team?

I’m not sure if it accelerated the process. I was looking for more balance on right shots and left shots and it became apparent that we were going to start to have a logjam of players deserving to be in the lineup. 
Both Cam and I realized that it was going to be difficult for our younger players to get in the lineup. It was kind of a mutual situation. Both of us realized that it was time for a change.


Based on (Blues GM Doug) Armstrong’s comments, it seemed like St. Louis had been looking for a defenseman for a few weeks now. When did they first make contact and when did Cam become a possibility for them?

I think over the whole course of the season. We’re always having discussions with other general managers. There's always situations where injuries occur and teams look to maybe make a few moves. I've been in contact with different general managers. St. 
Louis kind of ran into an injury problem. They’re looking to make the playoffs and I think this was an opportunity for them to acquire a good defensemen. There’s been a lot going on over the last little bit. It was probably three or four days ago where it started to get serious.


When Trouba came in, the players were excited that you guys were adding. There had been a lot of subtraction because of where you guys are in the rebuild. A veteran (in Fowler) comes off, what do you see your outlook being for the rest of the year? You have pending UFAs, where you are in the standings. How do you see your acumen shaping up as the deadline approaches as far as buyer or seller?

It’s way too early to even think about that. I'm looking at us to get back on a winning track here. We had a good 10-game stint there and I kind of want us to get back there. 
We're close to getting back there, to the opposite side of these close games of losing. I want us to be on the winning side of these. That is so far down the road for me. 
The focus is on winning and trying to get ourselves back in a position to where we can fight for a playoff spot.
There was a logjam that presented itself by bringing in Trouba. Do you feel like the return for Fowler would have been a little bit better towards the deadline with teams looking to add?

I can't even ponder that question because we'll never know. It’s hard to gauge. 
You never know. These things turn out great or they could turn out not great. I've seen it both ways, so that's a hard question. 
If I was a seer, I could answer that question, but I'm not.


Head coach Greg Cronin has expressed importance on having left-right pairings and you've kind of expressed that in the past as well. Do you think that it could be beneficial in the long term for someone like Olen Zellweger, who’s played on the right for most of his NHL career so far, to play on his off-side?

We’re going to experiment with both sides to see which he handles the best. He’s shown in junior and even his short sample size here that he can do it. It becomes easier sometimes when you break the puck out on your forehand versus always having to pull pucks to your backhand. There’s other times when you watch him that he can see the play better from his opposite side. It’s something we're going to experiment with and see where it goes.


How difficult had it become to sit one of your young defensemen each night? I know it's been kind of rotated, but how difficult had that become to have to sit them out?

It becomes a problem in the sense that the younger players don't understand and it's hard to explain that to them. We have to keep rotating guys because we don’t want to keep guys sitting on the sidelines too long and because they don't deserve to sit out. I've been fairly happy with how our young group has been performing and it becomes difficult for them to understand. That’s when you start to run into problems. I don't want them to have to go through that when they don't have to.


Who can you see growing with this, with Fowler no longer there, especially on that left side?

I can see all of our guys growing. Jackson LaCombe had a great game (against Toronto). I can see him growing. Pavel Mintyukov is going to get some power play time. We’ve got three guys that we can use on the backend on the power play and that's all going to be experience that's going to be needed down the road. I can see all of them taking advantage or taking a step with this opportunity.


Last week when you talked to us, you said that you were happy with the way the team had been improving, but there was still things to do. In midst of this five-game losing streak and the analytics kind of being in in the bottom corner across the board, are you still happy with the progress that this team is making or in terms of trying to get to that point of playing those competitive games?

I don’t like us losing. I felt in Toronto that we played a pretty good game. 
I think what we're going through right now, you talk about timely saves with goaltending. With our group right now, we need timely goals. You look at Mason McTavish, he had two breakways that could have put us up in the game. Or two home games ago before that (against Minnesota) could have put us up in the game.


Playing with the lead’s a lot easier than having to chase a game all the time. The other game in Toronto as well, Mason had a chance to tie the game. This is the stuff that is kind of part of the growing pains, but I think that for us, scoring timely goals is going to be important moving forward as well.


In terms of just getting towards playing those meaningful games as you said in the preseason, the longer the streak goes on, how much further away do you come from that and look at it as big changes need to be made?

I hope we end it tonight (against Columbus).
 

Ducks DVM

sowcufucakky
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People don't seem to get this. I see so much of these "Ducks should have made them pay" type comments - that option literally did not exist.
We actually have no idea how low a price, or how high a price, other teams were offering. This position is just as much conjecture as the other.

All we know is that Verbeek was willing to put in a high bid so he won. We do not know if it needed to be a fraction of what he gave up, or if he just squeaked across the finish line.
 

Ducks DVM

sowcufucakky
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If he cared why did he waive his NTC to get out of here today?
Do you know for certain that he wasn’t told he’d just be benched until he said ok? Or waived? Or if Verbeek and Cronin were so incredibly toxic that he just wanted out? Or that the alternate locations were worse?

It would be exceeding odd for a player to not care about that type of thing at all. The answer is - of course he cared, but something overrode that.
 
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