Another summer is upon us, which means another round of player reviews. AnaheimDucks.com is featuring a different Ducks player throughout the summer (in numerical order), highlighting key stats while also keeping an eye on next season. We continue with defenseman Cam Fowler.
2016-17 Player Review: Cam Fowler
A 2016-17 season that began inauspiciously for Cam Fowler ultimately turned into the best one of his still relatively young career.
The weeks leading up to the start of the campaign weren't the first time Fowler's name was mentioned in trade rumors, but they appeared more serious when the Ducks still hadn't signed fellow defenseman Hampus Lindholm and forward Rickard Rakell with opening night looming. A number of circumstances allowed the Ducks to sign both players and keep Fowler while still remaining under the salary cap.
"I wouldn't say it was tough. It was just weird," said Fowler about the trade rumors. "At the end of the day, all of the stuff that was going on was background noise, and it was out of my control. I was super focused [over the] summer on having a good attitude and trying to concentrate on what I was doing."
That included undergoing some offseason training on his shot in his hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan with former Washington Capitals forward and skills coach Pat Peake, who has worked with Fowler since the defenseman was a teenager.
The work clearly paid off in the early going, as Fowler tallied six goals (four on the power play) in his first 22 games of the season, surpassing the five he scored the season prior. He ended up with 11 goals on the season and added two more in the playoffs, despite missing the entire first round vs. Calgary with a knee injury.
"In previous seasons, I was a player who would look to pass first, and I focused a lot on shooting the puck more and finding opportunities where I could get the puck to the net," says Fowler, who turned 25 in December. "It's amazing the good things that happen when you do that and have that mindset.
"It was probably 10 or 15 games into the season when I saw a couple of pucks go in [that] I started to see some of the rewards of what I did in the summer. Sometimes that's all it takes as a player, to see a puck go in and start bouncing your way. You start to get confident. Confidence goes a huge way in this game. A lot of people don't realize how easy it can slip, even for professional players. I was able to find a demeanor that helped me play my best."
Fowler's offensive output complemented his outstanding defensive, skating and puck-moving skills, and he was rewarded at midseason with his first berth in the NHL All-Star Game in LA, where he scored the first goal of the 3-on-3 tournament for the Pacific Division.
"It was cool," he said. "Getting to spend time with the greatest players in the world, and do it not too far away from where I play and have my family and friends here was a great experience and something I'll remember for a long time."
It wasn't the first time Fowler had a career-defining moment at Staples Center, where he was taken 12th overall by Anaheim in the 2010 NHL Draft. He never played a single game in the minors before joining the Ducks as an 18-year-old and blossoming into a franchise cornerstone.
He is the highest-scoring defenseman in that 2010 draft class with 217 points (45g/172a) in 494 career NHL games. Among franchise defensemen, he is second in scoring and assists, third in games played and tied for third in goals. As one of the team's veteran leaders among a relatively young group of blueliners, he has helped the Ducks advance to the Western Conference Final two of the past three seasons.
The Ducks made a long-term commitment to Fowler last July 1 by signing Fowler to an eight-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season, putting to rest any thoughts in the near future of the two sides parting ways.
"Cam Fowler is the type of player we want here long term," said Ducks Executive Vice President/General Manager Bob Murray on that day. "He has the obvious skill set, but also tremendous character and a drive to succeed. As good as he is, he's not yet in his prime years, so we know the best is yet to come."
On the day he signed the deal, Fowler told reporters, "I definitely wanted to go out and prove this season that I could be the player that Anaheim drafted and stuck with, and that I could play to the potential not only they thought I could, but personally I could, too. That was big for me. I tried to play more loose with more confidence. Things worked out in my favor, but now I couldn't be happier to be in the position I'm in now."
