From the sounds of just about every report, it's a difficult time to pull off a trade in the NHL. Money is tight and a lot of the league's GM aren't yet convinced of their team's deficiencies and want to wait until sometime closer to Christmas before seriously talking turkey on potential deals. That hasn't stopped some of the NHL's personnel men from calling around to their peers and plying their wares, though. One such GM - Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks - is reportedly (and unsurprisingly) receiving a lot of calls on defenseman Cam Fowler. Murray though, is only listening on Fowler, whereas he's said to be actively looking to move left winger Andrew Cogliano.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that the Ducks and Murray have been "sniffing around" in an attempt to gauge what, if any, market exists for the 28-year-old winger. Cogliano, unfortunately, is struggling through a difficult season - he's got two goals, five assists and is sporting an abysmal minus-9 through 22 games - and he has two years remaining on his current deal, at a $3 million per season clip.
It makes sense then that most of the conversations Murray has with other GM's tend to turn fairly quickly to the 23-year-old Fowler, as Garrioch reports.
While it's still not clear that Anaheim is intent on moving him, Garrioch indicates that Murray is and has been asking for a "boatload" in return. Shea Theodore is knocking on the NHL door and is probably worthy of a full-time spot with the big club at this point.
Fowler, a former first-round pick by the Ducks, has three goals and five assists this season. His possession metrics don't look great - his Corsi For is just 50.1 which, while not bad, also probably isn't good enough for a guy who only two seasons ago signed a five-year extension that carries a $4 million cap hit.
Despite his level of experience, Fowler's still a young guy playing a position where it usually takes quite a while to develop into an elite presence. He's unlikely to ever reach that designation, but Fowler has shown in the past that he can be a strong, reliable player. There are bound to be a fair number of GMs out there who think they can get more out of the young veteran than Murray and Bruce Boudreau.
