MTL say yes of course ...

Ducks block Montreal of course...

Why are you posting this from the Ducks? Horrible trade. Ducks aren’t trading 9 years of Fowler for 2 if Patches.

SMH , you're new?

name me 5 times moving a 9 year contract was easy (cant say subban that was anything but easy and we took a loss to do it )

why Fowler is their current 4/4th d and the only one with a minus 7 (29 pts from mansons +22 )

plus Welenki is beating down the door and they want to keep Bieska .
to be fair none of us thought Vatenen would be moved before Fowler but he was for a Center when ANA has all 4 centers
having played top line in their career at the NHL level and Kossila being held down while Raekell has to play wing.
trading for Henrique was the last thing any experts suggested

The Ducks biggest need was at center. They smartly acquired Henrique. Rakell can play Center if necessary but he is WAY better on the wing. Unlike the Habs, the Ducks are smart and have 4 good centers, enabling them to keep players in their best position instead of putting Drouin at Center becuase of need.

I don’t know why Carlyle plays Bieksa so much, but it would’ve worse without Fowler. They aren’t trading Fowler for a guy who is a UFA next year when their biggest need is defense.

Ducks decline.



It is clearly you that is the new one here because Subban wasn't moved because he had a 9 year contract. The kid was 27 years old for crying out load and you acquired an even worse contract in Shea Weber's.

Moving Fowler's contract would be easy because:

1. He's only just starting it i.e. he's in his prime years,
2. He's only 34 years of age when it finishes,
3. It's cheap for a top pairing D-man,

Way worse 9 year contracts have been moved before and returned some pretty good players, see Shea Weber as an example (Subban > Weber).

Anyway, we're not interested in moving our 9 year contract, so who cares if it's easy or not.



Fowler is our 2nd best D-man behind Lindholm. They're both top paring D-men, but they're both llefties. Therefore, Fowler is on the 2nd pairing, but both carry their lines. Lindholm is currently partnered with Manson, a very capable top 4 D-man. Conversely, Fowler is partnered with the black hole of offence and someone who seems to actively feed the opposition the puck in Bieksa (go and check his stats, he's literally the worst D-man we have by a country mile in every stat column). Given that Fowler is having to babysit Bieksa to try and reduce the number of cataclysmic mistakes he makes that lead to a goal for the opposition, Fowler's stats have suffered. However, he is by no means our 4th D. That would probably be Montour.

Bieksa has a NTC. He'd have been moved last year before the expansion draft if he didn't have one.

ANA only had 2 Cs available at the time in Vermette and Grant. We've been decimated with injuries this season and both Getzlaf and Kesler were out. Rakell is not a C, he's a winger. Vermette is a 4th line C and Grant is a borderline NHLer. We needed a C desperately and Henrique was a good fit.

Actually, we may not be "experts" (whatever that means), but most Ducks fans and Devils fan had discussed Henrique for Vatanen and agreed it made total sense. Hence, most of us were not too surprised when the deal actually came to fruition.

Anyway, this deal is bad for ANA. We need Fowler much, much more than we need Patches. MTL needs are rebuild anyway. Dump what you can for whatever you can get. I'd be happy to do a deal around futures for Patches, but I'm not taking away from key roster positions to fit him in.

Everyone thought Vatanen would be moved before Fowler. The reason Fowler hasn't been lights out this year is because he is paired with Bieksa. Bieksa is trash and drags down any dman he's paired with. Ducks will never trade Fowler for someone like Patches, and it would make no sense from their position.
Also, it's a huge overpay considering position, talent, and contract length.

Sorry Billy but you appear to be a bit mis-informed. Vatanen became the obvious trade candidate after Fowler had that huge start last year. The Ducks also needed a left shooting center. They tried Rakell at center but he is much better in the wing. RC was starting to play Grant at 1C over Rakell when Getz and Kesler were both out. Vermette is nothing more than a 4th line FO specialist at this point. I am also pretty certain that Bieksa is olaying with Fowler because that is where he'll do the least damage. If we push Montour up then we would have Bieksa and Beauch on the same pairing which is disasterous. Welinski also won't push Fowler as he is a RS. Most Ducks fans don't think Bieksa is back next year as he is UFA, over 35 and obviously our worst D man.

Don't forget that the emergence of Montour, who is more similar to Vatanen (dynamic offensive D-man) in his game than Fowler (strong 2-way D-man), also paved the way for Vatanen to be moved.