McKeen’s 2023-24 Yearbook - The 31-year-old is coming off a season in which he produced a career high 48 points while logging more than 24 minutes of ice time per game for the fourth time in his career. Fowler can distribute the puck and should play a ton for a Ducks team that is lacking proven NHL options on the blueline. That said, Fowler should not be killing penalties, as there have been 96 defensemen to play at least 300 4-on-5 minutes over the past three seasons, and Fowler ranks 93rd in rate of expected goals against and 88th in rate of shot attempts...
McKeen’s 2023-24 Yearbook - The 31-year-old is coming off a season in which he produced a career high 48 points while logging more than 24 minutes of ice time per game for the fourth time in his career. Fowler can distribute the puck and should play a ton for a Ducks team that is lacking proven NHL options on the blueline. That said, Fowler should not be killing penalties, as there have been 96 defensemen to play at least 300 4-on-5 minutes over the past three seasons, and Fowler ranks 93rd in rate of expected goals against and 88th in rate of shot attempts against. His reliability does make Fowler a valuable contributor in Anaheim, and he is the safest bet to quarterback the power play, at least at the start of the season. In the past two seasons, Fowler has scored 32 of his 90 points on the power play, so he should be able to contribute 40-plus points this season.
McKeen’s 2022-23 Yearbook - A reliable veteran defenseman who is not outstanding at any one thing but does a lot of things well and that makes him a legit top pair defenseman. Fowler scored a career high 42 points last season, thanks in part to 18 points on the power play, his most with the man advantage since scoring 23 power play points as a rookie in 2010-2011. He has matured into a quality player and the 30-year-old defenseman is the one player that the Ducks were willing to invest in long term. For a young team that is almost assuredly going to make its share of mistakes, Fowler’s steady hand is essential. Klingberg’s arrival is likely to reduce Fowler’s impact on the power play, but he should still be able to provide 35 points in addition to his defensive value.
McKeen’s 2021-22 Yearbook - Always a bit of a strange player to evaluate, Fowler has consistently posted some of the best conversion rates among defencemen in the NHL for years. As a result, his individual goal rates have long been quite high for a defender and that hasn't changed. The issue is that goals and points result in defenders getting overpaid too often and that's the case here, as Fowler is locked up until 2026 with a $6.5 million cap-hit. Fowler's a skilled defender and a smooth skater, but the underlying numbers have never really lived up to his reputation, or at least what his reputation was when he signed that contract. To be clear, he's still an above average defender, but not in the elite tier you'd want him to be in when attaching that large of a commitment to him, especially because he turns 30 in December and his best years are in all likelihood in the rear view. It's worth noting that he's often put in the unenviable position to play against top competition with a lesser player serving as his partner, but it's likely they wish they had Lindholm locked into that deal instead. In order to get his counting stats back up to where they were in his prime, he'll need to find his way back to playing significant powerplay minutes and the Ducks will have to actually score goals on said powerplay from time to time. It seems unlikely, but he's always a good bet to score 5v5 goals relatively often when he's healthy.
McKeen's 2019-20 Yearbook - - Poised and well-schooled, multi-dimensional rearguard .. smooth and strong on his edges .. swift in recovery, closing gaps defending the rush - supported by excellent athleticism and flexibility .. slick edges, and quick footwork in transition .. less proficient moving backwards - defaulting to forward skating to match an outside threat .. missed 23 games at the end of the first quarter with facial fractures courtesy of a puck deflected off his own stick .. had scored a hat trick in the handful of games prior to the injury, to complement seven assists .. registered two assists in the 23 games following the injury, often playing early with a face shield for extra protection .. had 16 games without a shot on goal .. finished strong (17-2-9-11) .. clear number one on the power play with 2:31 minutes per game .. partnered most with Josh Manson before late season switches rotated beside Michael Del Zotto, Jacob Larsson and Andy Welinski .. reasonable expectations here are points in the 30’s with single digit goals.
McKeen’s 2018-19 Yearbook - Scouting: Poised and well-schooled multi-dimensional rearguard .. smooth and strong on his edges, with short bursts and directional shifts .. reaches elite top speed with just a few powerful strides .. swift in recovery, closing gaps defending the rush - supported by excellent athleticism and flexibility .. slick edges, and quick footwork in transition, fast and seamless .. less proficient moving backwards - defaulting to forward skating to match an outside threat - gets caught at wrong angles to the puck .. top of the umbrella power play presence, walking the line with efficient puck management .. excels in transition, with long outlets - with a flair for long accurate stretch passes .. increasingly assertive as a physical presence .. comes up soft in net-front battles, relying mostly on his stickwork. Analysis: Managed to surpass the 30-point milestone for the fourth time in five years despite missing a significant chunk of 2017-18 (67-8-24-32) .. was unavailable Oct. 24-Nov. 19 due to a knee injury .. got into a groove immediately after returning (10-2-4-6) .. best stretch was from Jan. 23-Feb. 11 (9-1-8-9) .. sustained a shoulder injury on April 1 that cost him the final three games of the regular season and the Ducks’ brief playoff run .. led the Ducks with an average of 24:51 minutes per game, including 2:24 shorthanded minutes and 2:36 minutes with the man advantage .. had 10 power-play points, but 5v4 expected goals differential and on-ice expected goals differential suggests he may have underperformed a touch .. the Ducks have several noteworthy defensemen, but Fowler is still the cornerstone of their blueline.
McKeen's 2017-18 Yearbook - Scouting: A poised all-around rearguard, smooth and strong on his edges and reaches elite top speed with just a few powerful strides .. swift in recovery, especially closing gaps defending the rush - supported by excellent athleticism and flexibility .. exploits slick edges, and quick footwork in transition, fast and seamless .. not as proficient moving backwards - will default to forward skating to match an outside threat - and can get caught at wrong angles to the puck .. top of the umbrella power play presence, walking the line and keeping pucks in play .. excels in transition, with long outlets - with a flair for long accurate stretch passes .. increasingly assertive as a physical presence along the boards, yet not as diligent patrolling the crease .. comes up soft in net-front battles, relying mostly on his stickwork. Analysis: Signed an 8-year, $52 million extension, coming off career high in goals, and one point shy of career best .. scored nine goals and 22 points in 33 games (33-9-13-22) at 5v5 .. five goals and 11 points at 5v4 – where his shots and attempts per 60 rates ballooned .. curiously around this time his 5v5 partners rotated and production dropped .. went 32 games without a powerplay point and only nine at 5v5 (32-2-7-9) .. strong finish – eight points, four on the powerplay – halted abruptly with a knee injury costing the last two regular season games and first four in the postseason .. notched nine points in 13 playoff games, with only two on the power play .. entrenched in that high 30’s and low 40’s range.
14-15 Report .. Heavily rumored to be moved at the NHL Entry Draft due to cap and pending expansion asset management, yet remained a Duck through July .. started Q2 with four points in the first three games and endured an eight-game point funk despite a great improvement in on-ice high danger scoring area differential (from 32.02% at the start of the quarter to peak at 59.45%) at the time of a sprained knee costing 13 games .. started the season with multiple defense partners before settling in with Kevin Bieksa (618 mins, 45.5 GF% & 49.3 CF%) until Q4 where the defense partners were put through a blender on a game-by-game basis at 5v5 (253 mins at 5v5, 54.2 GF% & 46.1 CF% with an 11.93% on-ice sh%) .. earned points on 23.1% of 5v5 goals, in 1135 minutes .. returned back up to career norms at 5v4 earning points on 53.9% of on-ice goals, and scoring 14 points – a five-year high .. best stretch of the season earned 9 of 14 5v4 points during an 11-game run mid-February, (11-1-10-11) .. a skilled depth dimension, in the 35 point range .. two years left on his contract, and perhaps in need of a change of scenery, he makes an intriguing trade chip in the Ducks need to add more offensive depth up front.
13-14 Report .. 22 year old, four-year veteran is developing into the all-around defencemen Anaheim was hoping for when they drafted him 12th overall in 2010 .. enjoyed his best season since breaking into the league as an 18 year old rookie .. led all Ducks’ defencemen in scoring (70-6-30-36) and power play production (15) .. likely would have surpassed his rookie point total (40) if not for a sprained MCL near the end of the season .. finished first on the team in ice time per game (23:51), seeing significant minutes on both the power play (3:23) and shorthanded (2:41) .. . capable of achieving top end speed with only a few, quick strides .. a skilled puckmover, able to successfully complete long outlet passes when leaving the zone .. routinely skated against the other team’s best players .. production was hindered by an even strength shooting percentage of only 1.7%, a likely indicator of even better things in 2014-15 .. key to his development offensively will be a willingness to shoot more frequenty .. fired only 100 shots this year, not increasing his totals as you would expect in a young player .. displayed a number of elite abilities last season, steadying the ship after a couple up and down years .. still very early in his career, enters his fifth season poised to do more.
12-13 Report: Frustrating injury filled season for 21 year old former 12th overall pick.. scored 40 points as an 18 year old but regressed in challenging sophomore campaign .. playing heavy minutes with offensive (82-5-24-29) and defensive (-28) challenges .. confident Ducks signed a five year $20 million extension prior to the season to watch a further step backwards and a 24 point pro-rated scoring pace . . ice time dropped to lowest of his career (20:26) with power play time (2:46) down considerably from the previous two seasons (3:40, 3:37) .. overall shooting percentage has reduced by half in each consecutive season to career low 2% .. sports an ugly career -57 .. played briefly in Switzerland briefly during the lockout (14-2-5-7) .. missed the first game with the flu, never quite getting on track before suffering a concussion from a hit from behind Feb 2 that kept him out 8 games .. missing another two with an upper body muscle issue late in the season .. returning on the eve of the playoffs to score his first goal of the season in a productive run in his last five games (5-1-3-4) .. shifted off being paired with Beauchemin to form a unit with Bryan Allen – partly explaining lack of offensive numbers at even strength ...providing encouraging signs in return of poise and confidence in the playoffs - at both ends of the ice (7-0-3-3, +2) .. Ducks need him to emerge as the #1 PP quarterback and should find his form in fourth NHL season .. excellent value pick.
2011-12 Report .. Wobbled early under an excessive sophomore workload that only intensified during Lubomir Visnovsky's 13-game absence .. gradually shored up his defensive play and started to regain confidence over the second half - in spite of a three-month goal drought - 45 games - finally snapped in mid-March .. wound up posting a club-worst minus-28 rating .. will benefit from last season's hard lessons.
