Shane Bowers Gets First Call To NHL

Shane Bowers recalled by Avalanche tonight. His first NHL game could be tomorrow night against Nashville.
His career to this point:

Early Life

Shane Bowers was born on July 30, 1999 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Bowers was an up and coming star during his bantam years. During those two years in bantam (2012-14) he was averaging just over 1.6 points per game in 108 games. He was slated to go in the top five or so in the 2015 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Entry Draft, when a player was given “exceptional status” (when a player is allowed to enter the draft at 15 years old rather than 16) by Hockey Canada just 48 hours before the draft. With the exceptional status being given to Joseph Veleno, expected draft spots were thrown into a disarray, leaving players going to teams they were not expecting to. In the case of Shane Bowers, he dropped to fourth overall and went to the Cape Brenton Screaming Eagles. Bowers was also drafted by the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League (USHL) at 38th overall. The Black Hawks became his junior destination for the 2015-16 season.

The 2014-15 season Bowers would play for the Halifax McDonald’s U18 as a 15 year old. He would go on to lead the team in scoring with 52 points (23 goals and 29 assists) in 34 games. During the playoffs, he ripped through the competition with 33 points (15 goals and 18 assists) in just 17 games. While playing for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL Bowers was a decent player the first season (2015-16)  he was with the team only being sixth on the team in scoring with 33 points. The second year (2016-17) however, would see a dramatic bump in his scoring with 51 points and placing himself second on the team in scoring. 

Going into the summer before the start of his collegiate career in 2017, Bowers became eligible for the NHL Entry Draft. He was highly ranked in all the scouting reports, the most prominent being NHL Central Scouting at 16 and Bob McKenzie of TSN at 32. Bowers did not have to wait long as he was drafted in the first round and 28th overall by the Ottawa Senators. 

The Trade

The start of Bowers’ collegiate career was a bit of a strange one as on November 5th, 2017 he was a piece in one of the biggest trades in Colorado Avalanche history. Matt Duchene was traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Andrew Hammond, Shane Bowers, a 2019 first round pick (would be Bowen Byram), and a 2019 third round conditional pick (would be Matthew Stienburg). A third team was involved in the trade with Nashville trading Kyle Turris to Ottawa and Colorado receiving Samuel Girard, Vladislav Kamenev and a 2018 second round draft pick (would be Filip Hållander) all from Nashville. 

Steve Dangle does a trade tree of the Duchene trade which Bowers was a part of. (this video is two years old)

Collegiate Career

After the trade to the Colorado Avalanche at the beginning of the 2017-18 collegiate season. Bowers would go on to have a very successful rookie campaign with Boston University. Bowers would net 32 points (17 goals and 15 assists) in 40 games for the Hockey East team. He would also go on to lead the team. He would also help lead the team to a 2018 Hockey East Championship, bur losing the University of Michigan in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament. Bowers would add another trophy to his case when he was named to the Hockey East All Rookie team, along with UMass defenseman and Avalanche fellow prospect Cale Makar. 

Going Pro

The 2018-19 season would not be as productive a season as his freshman year was. Boston University would miss the NCAA tournament completely. Personally, Bowers would only help the team with his 21 points (11 goals and 10 assists) in 37 games. This would be the last collegiate campaign for Bowers as he would decide to join the Colorado Avalanche organization and go pro. The first Season in which Bowers was pro in 2019-20, he was assigned to the American Hockey League (AHL) Colorado Eagles. He played pretty well, with 27 points in 48 games. Injuries have hampered his development since his first season, with Bowers potting only 18 points in 65 games (2020-22). Last season he had a hopeful training camp, but was stricken with Covid-19 and a shoulder injury right after the season began, missing nearly two months. 

Type of Player

Bowers is a very good skater that is not that flashy at all. He is good on his edges and has good acceleration with top speed to match. Bowers is more of a north-south skater, lacking lateral movement and creativity. His balance on his skates can set him apart, especially as he has put more strength in his legs. This strength has helped him with fighting for the loose pucks along the boards and in the open ice to body a man off the puck.

Offensively Bowers is strong down low, with his favorite place being right in front of the goalie in the crease. He loves to cycle the puck in the corners to throw off defenders and get his body between the defender and the puck. Bowers has great vision to find open teammates in small spaces and in the passing lanes to create scoring opportunities. He plays a very similar role to Gabriel Landeskog, he will carry the puck in, pass it off, drive the net and wait for the rebound. Bowers just does it in a smaller frame than Landeskog does.

Bowers gets a pass from Anton Lindholm and rockets one home for the goal.

Goals in 4 straight for Shane Bowers!#EaglesCountry pic.twitter.com/LeTOR2rFnS

— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) January 18, 2020

      Defensively, Bowers plays a very responsible game. He battles for positions and for loose pucks and helps his defensemen low in the play when necessary. He is great at taking away the passing lanes to interrupt the opposition and he can even play on the penalty kill if need be. Bowers will backcheck when he needs to and not just coast into the defensive zone. 

First Career Call Up

On November 9th, 2022 Bowers got his first NHL call up to the Colorado Avalanche. In ten AHL games that he had played so far this season, Bowers had two goals and four assists. He had been a on the positive side of things as well, being a plus-5 so far this season. He has been off to one his best starts so far. Strangely enough, if he ends up playing tomorrow against Nashville, he will play against the player that he was traded for in 2017.

Conclusion

Overall, Bowers has a lot of potential to be a third line or even a second-line center in the NHL. The key that he will need is that he will have to have one or two injury free seasons to get his feet really moving in the pros. Injuries have been his issue the last couple of years, the Colorado Avalanche see potential in him, so should the fans. We expect him to come to training camp for the 2022-23 season with a chip on shoulder and something to prove, that his first season with the Eagles was not just a fluke.