One Year Later: The Ethan Bowen Trade

By Thomas Harrington

One year ago today, the Anaheim Ducks traded a conditional 2022 seventh round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2020 seventh round pick.

The conditions on the pick were if Edmonton received Anaheim’s 2022 seventh round pick from a previous deal, then Columbus would instead receive Anaheim’s 2023 seventh round pick. The conditions on the Edmonton deal were if Joel Persson played in 25 NHL games in the 2020-2021 season for the Ducks, then the Oilers would get Anaheim’s 2022 seventh round pick.

Persson did not meet those conditions and only played in the AHL, so Columbus received Anaheim’s 2022 seventh round pick and Edmonton did not. With their new 2020 seventh round pick, 207th overall, the Ducks selected forward Ethan Bowen.

After being drafted, Bowen played a shortened season in the BCHL for the Chilliwack Chiefs and scored 11 goals and 21 points in 19 games. He led his team in both goals and points and was 18th in the league in both goals and points. This was Bowen’s third season in the BCHL, and he increased his points-per-game from .672 to .756 to 1.105 in those three years.

That’s excellent progression, and for a seventh round pick, the Ducks felt he was worth picking up. Seventh round picks rarely work out, though the Ducks did find an NHL player in Ondrej Kase in the seventh round back in 2014. Hopefully Bowen will be Anaheim’s next seventh round pick to make it to the NHL someday.

From Columbus’ viewpoint, given that seventh round picks so rarely make it to the NHL and with how late their pick was in the draft, it was probably an easy decision to get an extra seventh round pick in a couple of years rather than use their immediate one.

Since their pick won’t be made until next summer, and since it will likely be several years before Bowen or Columbus’ pick has a shot at the NHL, it will be some time before a true winner in this trade can be decided. Either way, it’s a long shot for both teams, but the Ducks clearly saw something in Bowen that they liked, and hopefully he will work out for them in the future.

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October 7th, 2021