Speculation: Edmonton not a likely destination for Fowler

[thadd]

The hockey news recently suggested that the Oilers might be looking to make a trade for Cam Fowler and I just don't see it.

First, what is Edmonton going to give the Ducks? A bigger contract like Nuge or Eberle? Nope. Ducks wanna spend less last I heard.

Can't convince me that Puljujarvi or Drai are on the table.

Yakupov and picks aren't likely to interest the Ducks and I don't think the Ducks can afford to trade Folwer for magic beans since they're trying to compete now.

From the Oilers POV Fowler isn't as attractive as some think he might be.

We've got Klefbom, Sekera, Davidson, Reinhart and Nurse all competing to play on the left side next year. If Fowler were a righty Edmonton would likely be constantly harassing the Ducks to try to make something happen... but as I said before I don't think Edmonton has the right pieces on the table to get the Ducks' attention for any more than 2 seconds.

If Ducks re-sign Lindholm and put Fowler on the market, do you see these teams having any interest in making a trade involving Fowler?

Click to read more...

 

[Legend123]

Fowler is an upgrade over any oilers D.

 

[Leon Draisaitl]

Fowler is an upgrade over any oilers D.

Yeah, no....

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Fowler is a good defencemen. Why some people on this site don't think he is, is a mystery to me?

You are definitely going to have to give up a Nuge caliber to get that guy IMO.

 

[Jumptheshark]

problem is he is a LHD--oilers have several of those

I take Nurse and Klefbom over Fowler--partly due to contracts and taking Fowler could cause the oilers to lose a young d-man in expansion

 

[Legend123]

Yeah, no....

says the oilers fan, D was the reason the oilers suck for the past 10 years WHos better than Fowler?? Larsson?? Thats the only one i see better but fowler imo is better so far.

 

[WillNyeTheHockeyGuy]

Yeah, no....

The only one you can argue about is Larsson. Fowler's better than anyone else on that travesty of a defensive corps.

 

[darkwingduck]

Can we close this? We already have had lengthy proposals that went nowhere.

Oiler fans don't want fowler

and imo oiler assets are either unobtainable (mcdavid) or too expensive for anaheim (rnh).


Only option for a trade ended when vatanen got extended.

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

Fowler is a good defencemen. Why some people on this site don't think he is, is a mystery to me?

You are definitely going to have to give up a Nuge caliber to get that guy IMO.

basically every metric there is says Fowler isn't very good, the fact he plays a good bit of minutes on a great team does nothing for me if you don't perform well in those minutes. He's a decent PP QB and that's it, I have zero interest in him unless it'd be to flip him for a RHD with a similar reputation but better results

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

The only one you can argue about is Larsson. Fowler's better than anyone else on that travesty of a defensive corps.

aside from being overplayed on a good team, what does Fowler have on Klefbom/Larsson/Sekera or even Davidson?

 

[Leon Draisaitl]

The only one you can argue about is Larsson. Fowler's better than anyone else on that travesty of a defensive corps.

Ironic coming from a Leafs fan....

says the oilers fan, D was the reason the oilers suck for the past 10 years WHos better than Fowler?? Larsson?? Thats the only one i see better but fowler imo is better so far.

Klefbom is a much better defenseman than Fowler.

 

[JarvisFunk]

The only one you can argue about is Larsson. Fowler's better than anyone else on that travesty of a defensive corps.

There is no chance he is better than Klefbom. Him and Sekera are pretty comparable.

 

[Legend123]

basically every metric there is says Fowler isn't very good, the fact he plays a good bit of minutes on a great team does nothing for me if you don't perform well in those minutes. He's a decent PP QB and that's it, I have zero interest in him unless it'd be to flip him for a RHD with a similar reputation but better results

Yet another person who thinks he knows everything by looking at the stats lmao. He played top 2 minutes for one of the best teams in the league and was a big reason why they were strong on the D. Plus, he played tough minutes vs top teams in the west and played really well.

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

Fowler and Seabrook will be like Mike Richards and Dan Girardi. They hold such high reps but the results are poor outside of special teams and teams with heavy analytics sway don't go near them, then one day they hit a wall in the eyes of the media despite laying the same damn results.

 

[Leon Draisaitl]

Yet another person who thinks he knows everything by looking at the stats lmao. He played top 2 minutes for one of the best teams in the league and was a big reason why they were strong on the D. Plus, he played tough minutes vs top teams in the west and played really well.

Advanced stats aren't everything but that's terrible for a supposed top 2 defenseman...

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

Yet another person who thinks he knows everything by looking at the stats lmao. He played top 2 minutes for one of the best teams in the league and was a big reason why they were strong on the D. Plus, he played tough minutes vs top teams in the west and played really well.

yet another person who thinks "i watched him n his name is popular" argument is going to do it for him. LMAO!! <-wowy. Fowler didn't play those minutes "really well", he played them very poorly relative to his team. His even strength scoring was poor. Every regular Dman on the team except Lindholm had better possession results away from him.

what does he have going for him except the role that Boudreau put him in?

 

[thadd]

Fowler is a good defencemen. Why some people on this site don't think he is, is a mystery to me?

You are definitely going to have to give up a Nuge caliber to get that guy IMO.

If Edmonton was hard pressed for a left handed d-man instead of a righty this trade would make sense for the Oilers. Also leaves the Oilers in a scramble to find a 3rd line center.

says the oilers fan, D was the reason the oilers suck for the past 10 years WHos better than Fowler?? Larsson?? Thats the only one i see better but fowler imo is better so far.

I see Fowler playing on the second line behind Klefbom. Klefbom's growth curve since the year after he was drafted has been constantly impressive much like Davidson, who isn't there yet but has a shot at getting that good given his tool box.

-----------------------------


Over the off-season we heard half a dozen coaches talk about how much better it is to having d-men playing on their natural side.

Sure, if we traded for fowler

Klefbom-Larson
Fowler-Sekera
Davidson-Fayne/Osterle/Reinhart/Nurse

would be by far the best group of d-men we've skated since we lost in the finals, but that's never going to be great.

Fowler flat out isn't an attractive option for Edmonton.

 

[Connor]

Fowler is a good defencemen. Why some people on this site don't think he is, is a mystery to me?

You are definitely going to have to give up a Nuge caliber to get that guy IMO.

So the Flames would have to give up Bennett, +?

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

Advanced stats aren't everything but that's terrible for a supposed top 2 defenseman...

I don't love these hero charts, they do paint a bit of a picture but largely ignore half the story. I find box protection, effect on expected goals, and even strength production to be the most important things for a Dman.

the last 2 seasons, Fowler is 106th in 5v5 P/60 among D. In that time frame Fowler has been a -2.99 CF% (not end all be all but helps paint a picture). Relative to his team in that time frame, his expected goals for % is -3.48. His box protection/HDSCA numbers aren't strong relative to his team. He's also 79th in 5v4 P/60 the past 2 seasons, just below Justin Schultz. He basically just plays a lot of minutes! that's it! +draft pedigree

 

[DraberlyakMcHallkins*]

Over the off-season we heard half a dozen coaches talk about how much better it is to having d-men playing on their natural side.

L-L/R-R pairing equate to something like 6% lower possession (6.38 corsi events/60 or something) on average than traditional L-R pairings. Something I'm pretty glad Chiarelli was adamant about in interviews.

I don't know that I'd trade for Fowler if he were a right shot either

 

[McSuper]

Yeah, no....

Yeah . If we had Fowler he would be on the top paring with Larsson

Fowler Larsson
Klefbom Sekera
Davidson Fayne

I know some Oiler fans all say Klefbom is better and he might of been for a 20 game stretch last year but you don't go and say a player is better by having a good 20 games . Let him do it for a year or two before calling him something he is not .

They Oilers would be a better team with Fowler on the top pair and Klefbom on the 2nd pairing . I do agree Klefbom was better for a short period last season , not just better but a lot better . If he keeps it up there no comparison . Lets wait and see


Now as for the OP . I am not sure we have the pieces to get it done unless the Ducks will take prospects and picks . I guess that depends on the cost to sign their 2 RFA

 

[thadd]

Advanced stats aren't everything but that's terrible for a supposed top 2 defenseman...

Fowler played a lot of hard minutes and I believe him to be better than what the stats show here, but Klefbom has played a lot of tough minutes in Edmonton.

Before we signed Sekera, Petry is by far the best player he'd been paired with.

Also look at Davidson's Hero stats. Equally impressive. He came into the season being our #7 guy, started getting minutes because Nikitin and Ference **** the bed and then when Klefbom got hurt in December he was our first pairing LD from then on. He also played tons of tough minutes and it was incredibly rare to see him make any stupid decisions with the puck.

Man, Nikitin and Ference were so god awful that we were forced to give Reinhart minutes earlier than I'd expected and they were also forced to over-play Nurse, whom isn't ready to play 18-22 minutes a night.

It's really hard to notice the efforts of solid players on crappy teams, but we had 3 solid d-men in Sekera, Davidson and Klefbom last year.

When Sekera came in we knew he was a 2nd pairing d-man who was going to be playing 1st pairing minutes.

Klefbom has been strangely injury prone. Severe ankle injury after getting drafted, then he hurt his leg last season and should have only missed 2 weeks but then gets this strange infection that had him miss half of the freaking season.

Davidson in the cinderella man in Edmonton. Picked him up in the 6th round in 2010, had him play 2 more seasons with the Regina Pats before bringing him up to the ECHL and AHL in 2012/2013. Kid battled testicular cancer that year. Over the following 2 seasons he played 12 games in the NHL and 123 in the AHL. In 2015 he'd flat out improved too much to keep him out of the line-up. He played so many hard minutes in the second half of the year and somehow he walked away with a +7 rating. Flat out amazing.

Another thing that doesn't really stick out on the stat sheet about Davidson and Klefbom is their slap shots. About a month before Klefbom got hurt we finally saw him unloading with that slap shot often and it's a legit weapon that any team would want to turn to on a regular basis. Davidson also has a blistering slap shot that he gets off fairly quickly.

We really don't need a left handed d-man. Nurse is a solid option for 3rd pairing minutes. He might get sent down to the AHL to play more minutes. Too soon to tell. Reinhart, who is slower, is a much more consistent player at this point and he's reliable enough to play on the 3rd pairing and you can also give him some minutes on the PK without having to worry too much.

 

[snipes]

Fowler is underrated and HERO charts don't tell the full story for D men. You need to use the eye test, strength of competition, D-zone starts, etc.

Dmen are way harder to evaluate than forwards. Having said that, more interested in Vats than Fowler as he fills a need as a RHD PP QB. As division rivals, ANA has zero interest in moving Vatanen to EDM to play on the PP with McDavid. I wouldn't move him to us either.

 

[thadd]

I don't love these hero charts, they do paint a bit of a picture but largely ignore half the story. I find box protection, effect on expected goals, and even strength production to be the most important things for a Dman.

the last 2 seasons, Fowler is 106th in 5v5 P/60 among D. In that time frame Fowler has been a -2.99 CF% (not end all be all but helps paint a picture). Relative to his team in that time frame, his expected goals for % is -3.48. His box protection/HDSCA numbers aren't strong relative to his team. He's also 79th in 5v4 P/60 the past 2 seasons, just below Justin Schultz. He basically just plays a lot of minutes! that's it! +draft pedigree

I was shocked when we saw him fall so far before the draft. The talking heads on TSN had me convinced he was going third. I was expecting a lot more offence out of him, but after watching him play with the Ducks over the past few seasons I am surprised that he turned out to be such a complete hockey player.

 

[thadd]

Fowler is underrated and HERO charts don't tell the full story for D men. You need to use the eye test, strength of competition, D-zone starts, etc.

Dmen are way harder to evaluate than forwards. Having said that, more interested in Vats than Fowler as he fills a need as a RHD PP QB. As division rivals, ANA has zero interest in moving Vatanen to EDM to play on the PP with McDavid. I wouldn't move him to us either.

Before we traded for Larson I wanted no part of Vatanen because I didn't want to see him playing 1st pairing minutes, but with Larson playing in front of him, I agree with everything you've said here. I would cough up Nuge or Eberle for Vatanen.

And while that would make the Ducks look a lot more relevant up front, they'd clearly be enabling the Oilers to compete against any team in the league.