The Ducks will kick off a three-game homestand tonight with an old friend on the other side, hosting defenseman Cam Fowler and the St. Louis Blues at Honda Center.
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Anaheim welcomes back one of the most accomplished players in Ducks history tonight, as Fowler visits Orange County as a member of the visiting team for the first time in his 15-year NHL career.
Originally selected by the Ducks in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft, Fowler would go on to become the club’s all-time leader in games played, points, goals and assists by a defenseman. He also appeared in 62 playoff games as a Duck, helping the club to the 2015 and 2017 Western Conference Finals.
“It’s going to be fun, emotional and I’ll have some nerves about the whole thing, but overall it’ll be a fun experience for me to get back to a place where I spent many years,” Fowler said. “I played against [the Ducks] once (in January at Enterprise Center in St. Louis), but going back to Anaheim, I think there will be a lot of emotions with everything. I’m going to try to take it all in and handle it the best I can.”
Fowler faces his old mates in the midst of a tight playoff battle for both sides, with the Ducks and Blues both within striking distance of a Western Conference Wild Card position. Anaheim returns to home ice tonight after splitting a divisional back-to-back, rolling to a 6-2 win in Edmonton before falling 3-2 in Vancouver the following night.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy [in Vancouver],” Cronin said postgame. “I thought [the Canucks] came out and set the tone early. They had like 12 shots the first 10 minutes. Clearly they were charged up, they were waiting for us, and they dictated the pace of the game immediately. We couldn’t collect passes. We had the puck inside the blue line, lost the puck inside the blue line multiple times. We just were sloppy. It was just a sloppy game for us.”
Cronin on Ducks loss to Canucks
With the trade deadline now just hours away, Anaheim’s lineup will need a tweak on the back end tonight as the Ducks dealt defenseman Brian Dumoulin to New Jersey yesterday for forward prospect Hermann Traff and a conditional 2025 second-round pick.
“Brian was good for us both on and off the ice, and we wish him well in New Jersey,” said Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek. “This wasn’t an easy decision for us. We do feel this allows more opportunity for our young defensemen, who have proven they can play and succeed at the NHL level.”
Dumoulin’s departure likely signals the return of 21-year-old Olen Zellweger, who has appeared in 43 of the club’s 61 games so far this season. Zellweger’s five goals and 14 points rank second among Ducks blueliners, trailing only Jackson LaCombe.
Meanwhile, St. Louis visits Anaheim as part of an odd road trip, which sandwiches tonight’s game with a pair of trips to Los Angeles. The Blues earned a 3-2 shootout win over the Kings Wednesday night but suffered a big loss on the blue line with an injury to defenseman Colton Parayko, who will mis six weeks with a knee ailment.
St. Louis (30-27-6, 66 points) sits fifth in the Central Division, two points back of a playoff spot.
