Eklund Rumor: Leafs in on Cam Fowler

[Hunter368]

He's a no.2 dman and has been for a while, nobody can counter my points about the ducks record with him playing so high in their lineup on a consistent basis.

Ducks record? Easy ducks have had a very solid team with some very good core players. These facts and the ducks record don't make Fowler a top pairing guy. Fowler is a top 4 guy on a very solid team.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

How good is Fowler realistically? A 2,3 or 4? Obviously don't watch Ducks games so I wouldn't know.

Personally I see him as a 2... he has had some pretty awful partners sense he came into the NHL with Anaheim, but when he had a solid partner like beauchmin or despres, he was arguably our top dmen. I don't think hes a lead top pairing 25+ min a night guy. I think hes a great 2nd pairing guy like a 3, can be a 2 if you have a great #1. A lot of fowlers play to me is dictated by who his partner is, hes had some bad partners and seems like he plays to cover up for them instead of playing his game at times, but if you give him someone he doesn't have to carry like I said he was arguably our best dmen the last few years.

He has been our #1(1a/1b at times) for the last few years, and we have 4 pacific titles in that span.... I don't think he truly is a #1... but I think he can be a good top line pairing guy with the right partner, or a great #3.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Ducks record? Easy ducks have had a very solid team with some very good core players. These facts and the ducks record don't make Fowler a top pairing guy. Fowler is a top 4 guy on a very solid team.

"ducks have a very solid team, with good core players"

fowler has been our #1 for a few years

"fowler is top 4 on a solid team"

Plays on solid team, as #1


well that was easily debunked

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I'd rather wait than pay anything of major value for Fowler. No point in overpaying for a big name defenseman when we can just wait for expansion next year.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

How good is Fowler realistically? A 2,3 or 4? Obviously don't watch Ducks games so I wouldn't know.

Fowler is easily a 2 right now and arguably the Ducks #1. His advanced numbers don't really show that but it's telling that Boudreau used him the most and tasked him with the most difficult role. It could be different under Carlyle and I think guys like Vatanen and Lindholm will end up better than Fowler but I think it's a safe bet that Fowler will be a very solid top pairing d-man no matter who picks him up.

Taking the obvious guys like Nylander Marner and Matthews out... that leaves guys like Bracco, brown, kapanen few other decent prospects I wouldn't mind having. I think JvR makes the most sense if were trying to win a championship but part of me feels like were trying to keep the team competitive. Personally I like bracco brown and kapanen, but they are much less valuable then fowler, so its hard to find an add that makes sense.

I think the Add to any 1 of those 3 is torontos 1st(I assume protected), cant see Toronto wanting to move their first.

I think the Ducks will try to be competitive but I think the budget side of it may play more of a part in it right now just based off the timing of the Bernier deal. I think even with something that's more based on something like Kapanen and a protected 1st with a 3rd line winger or something for Fowler and Stoner, the Ducks will still be pretty competitive. The Ducks have an absurd amount of blue line depth to rely on going forward. If Gibson owns the net behind that blue line, they're going to win more than their fair share of games.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Fowler is easily a 2 right now and arguably the Ducks #1. His advanced numbers don't really show that but it's telling that Boudreau used him the most and tasked him with the most difficult role. It could be different under Carlyle and I think guys like Vatanen and Lindholm will end up better than Fowler but I think it's a safe bet that Fowler will be a very solid top pairing d-man no matter who picks him up.



I think the Ducks will try to be competitive but I think the budget side of it may play more of a part in it right now just based off the timing of the Bernier deal. I think even with something that's more based on something like Kapanen and a protected 1st with a 3rd line winger or something for Fowler and Stoner, the Ducks will still be pretty competitive. The Ducks have an absurd amount of blue line depth to rely on going forward. If Gibson owns the net behind that blue line, they're going to win more than their fair share of games.

Oh yea I agree, well be competitive based on our blue line alone even without fowler... our star forwards are still solid, and you look at a team like the sharks whos core is older, just making a cup run because of their blue line. They are definitely an interesting team, its unfortunate that we have the internal cap, which hinders a bit of our aggressiveness and ability to make the changes we need, but I still think we can win the pacific this year, and still make noise in the playoffs.

 

[Sojourn]

Ducks record? Easy ducks have had a very solid team with some very good core players. These facts and the ducks record don't make Fowler a top pairing guy. Fowler is a top 4 guy on a very solid team.

You're stepping all over your point here.

The Ducks are a solid team, and he's a top pairing defenseman on that roster. Your argument would work much better if the Ducks were not, in fact, a good team. If they were consistently missing the playoffs, for example. But their success as a team, and with Fowler in a high responsibility role, completely flies in the face of your insinuation that he'd only be a top 4 guy on a very solid team.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Oh yea I agree, well be competitive based on our blue line alone even without fowler... our star forwards are still solid, and you look at a team like the sharks whos core is older, just making a cup run because of their blue line. They are definitely an interesting team, its unfortunate that we have the internal cap, which hinders a bit of our aggressiveness and ability to make the changes we need, but I still think we can win the pacific this year, and still make noise in the playoffs.

That 8 mil in cap space would make this a lot easier since they could just keep what they have, sign their two RFA's, and move on even with two pretty glaring contracts in Bieksa and Stoner. And I shudder to think what the Ducks could be doing if they hadn't signed those contracts plus were a cap team. They really could've been a dominant force with all their cheap talent coming up and proving themselves like they have.

 

[Paul4587]

How good is Fowler realistically? A 2,3 or 4? Obviously don't watch Ducks games so I wouldn't know.

Ideally a 2. He led the Ducks in ice time per game last year playing the hardest minutes in terms of zone starts with an absolute plug on his pairing and looked ok doing it. A lot of people will say he wasn't ok in that role because his advanced stats suck but when you have Lindholm jumping of the boards when you're not on the ice your corsi rel is going to look much worse than it is because Lindholm last season had the best advanced stats in the entire league pretty much.

I think some Ducks fans overrate him but non Ducks fans who don't watch him play and only look at his hero chart and not the context of how he is used underrate him massively.

 

[Sojourn]

That 8 mil in cap space would make this a lot easier since they could just keep what they have, sign their two RFA's, and move on even with two pretty glaring contracts in Bieksa and Stoner. And I shudder to think what the Ducks could be doing if they hadn't signed those contracts plus were a cap team. They really could've been a dominant force with all their cheap talent coming up and proving themselves like they have.

Tell me about it.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

That 8 mil in cap space would make this a lot easier since they could just keep what they have, sign their two RFA's, and move on even with two pretty glaring contracts in Bieksa and Stoner. And I shudder to think what the Ducks could be doing if they hadn't signed those contracts plus were a cap team. They really could've been a dominant force with all their cheap talent coming up and proving themselves like they have.

Lol we cringe every time... idk why we let beauchmin go for bieska.... arguably the biggest mistake during our window. If we didn't have stoners contract we may have been able to keep 1 of beleskey or palmeiri also

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Tell me about it.

But still, to be competitive on a budget like they have is a pretty good accomplishment. However, I know that there is no solace in that fact. Sharks had a pretty long budget run pretty much since the franchise started until about 5 years ago.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Lol we cringe every time... idk why we let beauchmin go for bieska.... arguably the biggest mistake during our window. If we didn't have stoners contract we may have been able to keep 1 of beleskey or palmeiri also

I can see why they let Beauchemin go but I have no earthly idea why they thought bringing in Bieksa was a good idea.

 

[THall4]

Weird.

Leafs already have Reilly and Gardiner on LHD...

It is Eklund though...so there's that.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Shattenkirk linked to Montreal.

Now Fowler linked to Toronto.

Yeah i'm starting to see an Eklund pattern here.

 

[Arthuros]

Weird.

Leafs already have Reilly and Gardiner on LHD...

It is Eklund though...so there's that.

Playing devil's advocate, Rielly is capable of playing RD, isn't he?

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Playing devil's advocate, Rielly is capable of playing RD, isn't he?

He's played Rd basically his entire time here

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Ducks record? Easy ducks have had a very solid team with some very good core players. These facts and the ducks record don't make Fowler a top pairing guy. Fowler is a top 4 guy on a very solid team.

And Fowler has been a big part of that core, and has been one of the team's top 2 defensemen for atleast the last 3 years.

 

[Nordic*]

Fowler, Ritchie + 2017 2nd for Nylander and Marner.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Shattenkirk linked to Montreal.

Now Fowler linked to Toronto.

Yeah i'm starting to see an Eklund pattern here.

he's got a family to feed man

 

[Pyromaniac]

He's a no.2 dman and has been for a while, nobody can counter my points about the ducks record with him playing so high in their lineup on a consistent basis.

The argument is absolutely terrible.

The Hawks won a Cup with Handzus as a #2C, did that make him a top 6 player? No he was just carried by much better players. Team record is a terrible way to judge a player's effectiveness. It's like using wins to judge the quality of a pitcher.

 

[Kelly]

Fowler, Ritchie + 2017 2nd for Nylander and Marner.

lmao.

Not a chance.

 

[Ciao]

Heard that Lou wont do a JVR for Fowler swap. He's not interested in moving JVR.

I'm glad.

I don't know why he would want to move JVR for another surplus piece.

I don't know where they would play another LHD. That position is already covered.

Fowler would not be an appreciable improvement on the top-two LHD the Leafs already have.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

The argument is absolutely terrible.

The Hawks won a Cup with Handzus as a #2C, did that make him a top 6 player? No he was just carried by much better players. Team record is a terrible way to judge a player's effectiveness. It's like using wins to judge the quality of a pitcher.

How is it terrible? Fowler plays big minutes and tough matchups over the last few years his partners have been Lovejoy/Despres/Bieksa, not exactly cream of the crop yet the coach trusted him to play with them against other teams top 6 forwards fairly regularly. If Fowler was an awful player like some here claim, the ducks would simply not be as successful with him in that role.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

he's got a family to feed man

So he feeds his family by sporting false rumors, Nice guy.