Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

[Proposal] Higgins, Bartowski & a 3rd 2017 for Jared Cowen & a 5th 2016


Recommended Posts

 

Quote

 

Jared Cowen is fast becoming the forgotten man on the Ottawa Senators defence, but he’s not demanding a trade. 

At least not publicly.

“Even if there was, I don’t think I would be telling you guys, no offence,” Cowen told a trio of newspaper reporters...

 

 

Jared Cowan, the 25 year old former 9th overall pick, might be on the block in Ottawa. He's barely playing, getting low TOI when he does play and may even want a trade. And he's overpaid.

With LHer Dan Hamhuis likely on the block, Jared Cowan might be someone the Canucks could take a chance on.

At 6'6, 238 pounds, he's a big defenseman who showed promise in his first 2 seasons in Ottawa as a mobile, big, stay-at-home defenseman but has seemingly fallen out of favour in coach David Cameron's system. When he signed his last contract he was penciled as Ottawa's number 3 defenseman behind Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot. 

Ottawa isn't a cup contender this year, but aren't out of the playoff race yet despite a New Year's slump. Similarly to the Canucks, they're not clearly buyers or sellers.

So here the two teams make a deal to move unhappy misfits from their roster and give them a change of scenery and inject some fresh blood into their line-up. 

To Vancouver: Jared Cowen at 10% retained & a 5th round pick 2016

To Ottawa: Chris Higgins, Matt Bartkowski and a 3rd round pick 2017

Outside of Ottawa's top-6 they don't have any forwards with more than 15 points, so Higgins might help them out. Smooth skating Matt Bartkowski could replace Cowan's depth for the rest of the year. Ottawa also gets a higher draft pick.

Vancouver brings on a stay-at-home defenseman who fits their roster plan of getting younger and gives him a tryout. It gives them the depth to trade Hamhuis at the deadline for futures. They get a pick that is sooner where they could take a gamble on a player like Ty Ronning or Matt Barberis, replacing the pick they lost in the Prust trade. 

With Higgins and Cowen's contracts both going into next year, they're basically a wash. Ottawa has a bit more flexibility with Higgins already in the minors and possibly reitiring. 

If Canucks don't trade Hammer, Cowan will take Bart's spot on the depth chart and compete to be part of the team.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cowen has been super-soft and tentative this year.  I don't think he's what we need but given the state of our D, he might be worth a shot with the cap we have coming clear next year.  He's undoubtedly on the block, but a difficult reclamation project given that he's waiver-eligible.  A change of scene and coach might do him some good but at the moment his confidence is shot and he'll need to play to turn that around.  I have no idea what the price for this guy would be or at what price he's worth the risk but would probably do the deal OP proposes.  Whether Ottawa would is a very different question. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He isn't very good, and will earn 4.5 million next year at a 3.1 million cap hit. Likely to get sent on waivers. They would likely take Bartkowski straight-up. It would be a bonus on our side if we threw in Higgins. I'd do your trade, and think it is plausible. Good job. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also would probably take a gamble on such a big D-man. If you ice a lineup with him, Pedan & Tryamkin, at least we'd no longer get sand kicked in our collective faces. Make Miller earn his pay, with a bunch of large pilons in front of him. Also, maybe Doug Lidster can work a miracle, & turn him into something reasonable?

Meanwhile, flip Edler for a young D-prospect with upside.

Re-sign Hammy for a friendly price. After fetching return for him at TDL.

If all these steps came together, I'd be pleased.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While he 1) fits the age range of guys Trader Jim likes, 2) has good draft pedigree at 9th overall and 3) could be a good reclamation project in exchange for Higgins and Bart, I'm still tentative given how Sens writers have described him as 

Quote

showing absolutely nothing. His game hasn't improved at all. It's not even the fancy stats that make him look bad either; if you have a pair of eyes you should be noticing the simple mistakes he makes. He doesn't have the spatial awareness that a good defensive defenseman needs, he has a horrible time breaking out of his own zone, and speedy forwards blow past him night in and night out. And now he'll be turning 25 at the end of the month, and has had 244 NHL games under his belt.

This is the third straight season that Cowen has been not good at all. As in, almost unplayable. In his rookie season in 2011-12, the expectations for him weren't too high, and everyone seemed to agree that he was solid throughout the year. Looking back, he was probably just average. In 2012-13, he missed most of the year, so he was still a bit of a mystery in terms of what he could do.

Then 2013-14 happened. He was abysmal, and some Senators fans started to realize that maybe he wasn't as good as we thought he was. I had my reservations about him as well. Then by early 2014-15, he had shown no progress, and that's when many more people began to see the real player that he was.

http://www.silversevensens.com/2016/1/5/10712724/the-senators-will-end-up-selling-extremely-low-on-jared-cowen-ottawa-nhl

There are 1st round guys like Sven and Etem who are worth the lottery-style gamble, and then there are guys like Sbisa, Connolly and Drouin who may not even live up to their billing.  There is still the chance that, at the cost of Higgins and Bart, we can get another lottery ticket, but he'll be pricey for a 3rd pair player, and if Hutton shows he's ready for 2nd pairing time I'd rather give Pedan a shot.  If Cowen shows he's not ready, Trader Jim might need to purge him like he did with Higgins, Prust and Weber, and I'm not sure he'll want to go down that route again. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Ryan Strome said:

I could see a Cowen trade but I doubt Ottawa wants Higgins.

thats a 2m savings cost wise between the two. We should hope Benning would want to send a contract like higgins back for cowen.

Higgins and one of Bart/Weber what about even Sbisa? get out of his deal a year sooner with Cowen, we would have to retain half on higgins tho i would think

 

sbisa higgins 50% Retained for Cowen and a 4th?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Could be worth trading someone, like a project player, who's struggled here.

Vey could fit that bill nicely.

Almost would do Vey for Cowan straight up.

Why would you trade Linden now?  He's showing decent chemistry with Emerson and Burr, and at times they generate some of the best chances for the team.  At his young age I'd hope Trader Jim keeps him and lets him and Emerson develop together on the 3rd line in a supporting role alongside the rest of the kids.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...