Let me preface this by saying this is not a defence of Jared Cowen.
At the start of the 2014-2015 season, I was quite firmly in the “wait and see” camp when it came to 2009 first round pick. I saw the flaws in his game that made him a regular target of criticism but truly believed he was still a legitimate prospect. And then early in this season, there was progress. He seemed to be playing a more simple game and was finally cutting back on those “Oh no what is he doing” moments.
There were signs of the Cowen that we witnessed in his rookie season.
But then he seemed to hit a bit of a wall. Whether it was injury related or the early-season progress was a figment of my imagination, I now find myself more skeptical of Cowen’s potential than ever.
Almost unanimously, it seems like fans are ready to listen to offers on Jared Cowen. Which is why when Bryan Murray spoke more optimistically of Cowen in his season-ending address, there was a whole lot of sighing and hand-wringing from the fan base. How can Murray still want to keep this guy around, fans cried out.
And while it may seem easy to just give up on Cowen, I sort of understand why Murray has resisted the urge to this point. The biggest reason being, the Jared Cowen we saw early in his career is exactly what the Senators blueline is missing right now. A left shot defenceman to play on the second pairing. A defensively responsible guy with decent offensive instincts who can take a regular shift on the PK and even play the power play in a pinch.
It’s not easy to give up on a prospect. It’s even more difficult to cut bait on a first round pick. And it becomes that much stressful when the player in question was supposed to address the biggest need on your roster.
And at the same time, if there is interest (and Garrioch suggested there was at the deadline) you know it’s a buy-low situation. The Senators would not be getting much if anything in return. It would be a case of another team doing Ottawa a favour by taking Cowen’s contract. Edmonton has shown some interest in the past and apparently other teams called at the deadline.
The fact is, I firmly believe the issues with Cowen’s game are fixable. He has the tools, it’s just, he seems like he forgot how to use them somewhere along the way. From what I’ve heard from people around the team, the issue with Cowen has always been a blind-spot of sorts when it comes to deficiencies in his game. He’s confident to a fault.
And then during the playoffs when he was struggling to get into the line up, he sort of said all the wrong things about the possibility of getting back into the line up.
It’s often mentioned that defenceman take a little longer to develop and at 24 years of age, there’s still time for Cowen. And when you consider the persistent injury issues he’s had the last couple seasons, maybe if he could come into camp healthy, and coaches could work on the obvious coverage issues in his game, maybe just maybe, he could be the defenceman the Senators hoped he could be when they signed him to that long term extension.
Ok, so maybe this kinda was a defence of Jared Cowen or at least a defence of Bryan Murray’s reluctance to give up on him.
I believe the Senators will listen to offers on Jared Cowen this summer but it certainly won’t be an easy decision for Bryan Murray and his staff.
