One Year Later: The Cam Fowler Trade

By Thomas Harrington

One year ago today, the Anaheim Ducks traded defenseman Cam Fowler and a 2027 fourth round draft pick to the St. Louis Blues for defensive prospect Jeremie Biakabutuka and a 2027 second round draft pick. Fowler had a limited no-trade clause in his contract and had to waive it in order to facilitate the trade. The Ducks retained 38.5% of Fowler’s salary.

The Ducks had drafted Fowler 12th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Over the next 14 years, he became Anaheim’s leader in almost every defensive category. If not for some bad injury luck, he would have been the first defenseman and second player in franchise history to play in 1,000 games.

Overall, Fowler finished his Ducks career with 96 goals and 457 points in 991 games. He’s fifth all time in both assists and points for Anaheim and represented the Ducks at the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. Late in his Anaheim career, the Ducks were one of the worst teams in the league, and Fowler was often asked to do more than he was able to. This culminated with him playing 38:54 in a game against Arizona on April 8, 2023. That mark is the single season record for most ice time by a player ever in a regular season game.

Biakabutuka was an undrafted free agent who the Blues signed in 2023. In his first season with St. Louis, he played in one AHL game and was scoreless. He played primarily in the ECHL, scoring four goals and 18 points in 63 games. Before the trade last season, Biakabutuka had played in one more AHL game, along with 13 ECHL games where he had scored a goal and four points.

Given how poor of a team Anaheim was and how many young defensemen the organization had, it was only a matter of time before Fowler was traded. The addition of Jacob Trouba earlier in the month hastened the inevitable Fowler trade. The Blues had multiple injuries on defense, including Torey Krug and Nick Leddy. St. Louis believed they could go deep in the playoffs if they could have a healthy blueline, and Fowler was exactly what they were looking for.

After the trade, Biakabutuka played in 11 AHL games for San Diego and recorded one assist. He also played in 32 ECHL games for the Tulsa Oilers, where he scored seven goals and 28 points. This season, he’s played only in the ECHL so far and has two goals and 10 points in 13 games.

Fowler instantly fit in with the Blues, scoring nine goals and 36 points over the season’s final 51 games. But it was the playoffs where he truly showed what kind of player he could be. St. Louis pushed the Presidents Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets to seven games. If not for some late game heroics where Winnipeg tied the game 2.2 seconds left in regulation, the Blues would have advanced to the second round. Fowler played in all seven games and scored two goals and 10 points. Despite going out in the first round, Fowler finished the postseason tied for fifth in defensive scoring, and every player above him played in significantly more games than he did.

Fowler was due to be a free agent this coming summer. He and the Blues worked out a three-year extension before the season began, and he’ll be with them through the 2028-2029 season. This season, things haven’t gone as well for Fowler and the Blues. St. Louis is among the worst teams in the Western Conference, while Fowler has one goal and 12 points in 33 games.

A year later, there’s no question, St. Louis won this trade. Similar to the Trouba trade, from the outside looking in, this deal looks incredibly lopsided. However, on closer inspection, the deal isn’t as bad from Anaheim’s perspective as it looks at first glance. The Blues won this trade, as they received the best player in the deal, unless either of the 2027 draft picks turn into stars, but the Ducks were able to relieve a defensive logjam.

Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, and Drew Helleson all represent the future of Anaheim’s blueline. All of them found themselves healthy scratched at least once before the Fowler deal and all were given more ice time after it. LaCombe especially thrived and showed what kind of player he is after Fowler was traded. He became Anaheim’s best defenseman over the course of the rest of the season, and was rewarded with an eight-year extension before this season began.

The Ducks lost the trade, especially since they had to retain so much of Fowler’s salary, but the silver lining was definitely LaCombe’s play. Sometimes a team needs to take the loss in a deal in order to open roster space for other players to step up, and that’s exactly what Anaheim was able to do.

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December 14th, 2025