I am not knowledgeable on Fowler as last I thought he was a very good D man. If he still is, and it is largely the system put in place by the awful Randy Carlyle, then he is the type of guy that would make sense.
He is a fast skating puck pushing D man who just turned 27 and has 7 years left after this year, meaning he is 34 when the contract ends.
So given our youth the time left on his deal covers when we hopefully have an emergence of some real good players, and possibly are contenders. Adding him would also allow us to move Petry in a year or two as his contract ends in 2021.
So in.my view, it makes a lot more sense to pay more and get Fowler, than pay anything to get Muzzin, simply because of when we may have a real top team.