Nearly a decade after the Senators made Shane Bowers a first-round pick, the organization has circled back to the forward in a way few would have expected.
Bowers has returned to Ottawa’s system with the Belleville Senators, joining the AHL club late last week on a professional tryout. He didn’t waste any time making the reunion noticeable. In his first game back, the 27-year-old scored in Belleville’s 5-2 season-opening loss to the Hamilton Hammers on Friday night.
For a player whose first run with the Senators lasted only a few months, it’s a neat full-circle moment. Ottawa chose Bowers 28th overall in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft after he posted 51 points in 60 games with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL. At the time, he looked like a meaningful piece of the future.
That future changed quickly. Before Bowers ever played a game for the organization, his rights were included in one of the biggest trades in Senators history. On November 5, 2017, Ottawa landed Matt Duchene from the Colorado Avalanche in a three-team deal, with Bowers, goalie Andrew Hammond and draft picks heading to Colorado and Kyle Turris going to Nashville.
So even though he was a Senators first-round selection, Bowers spent less than five months in the organization the first time around.
His career since then has largely unfolded in the minors. Now in his ninth pro season, Bowers has appeared in just one NHL game with Colorado and 12 with New Jersey, while spending most of his time in the AHL.
This latest move doesn’t come with much fanfare, and it isn’t an NHL contract. Belleville announced Bowers, along with Mark Duarte, as a pair of professional tryout signings when it released its opening-night roster on Friday.
Still, the return has already produced something his original stint never got the chance to deliver: a goal in a Senators uniform.
In Other News...
Senators Showed Something Bigger Than A Road Win In Toronto
Toronto spent most of the night looking like the better team, driving play for long stretches and creating the kinds of chances that usually lead to a home win. The Maple Leafs were especially strong early, with Easton Cowan continuing to flash encouraging underlying numbers, even as the fourth line had a harder time keeping pace and the defensive usage from coach Jim Hiller produced a few unusual ice-time choices.
Still, Ottawas 3-2 win in Toronto was about more than a road result. The Senators weathered the pressure, waited for the game to tilt and then seized control when the Leafs level dropped in the third period, a reminder that the gap in effort and execution can change fast in this matchup. For Ottawa, it was the kind of finish that can mean something beyond two points, because it showed a group willing to absorb the push and answer when the game opened up. [Read more 🡒]
DeBrincat Just Put Detroit's Biggest Contract Decision Into Focus
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If the absence stretches beyond the short term, the Senators may have to look hard at their depth options to keep the back end steady. With one regular unavailable and another injury situation developing elsewhere, Ottawa is being pushed into the kind of roster juggling that can quickly expose how thin the margin is when a key defender is out. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Just Gave Leafs Fans A Brutal First Rivalry Reality Check
The first Battle of Ontario of the season had the familiar edge, and it delivered a reminder that these meetings rarely stay tidy for long. Ottawa and Toronto traded chances and goals before the Senators emerged with a 3-2 win, with Thomas Chabot and Stephen Halliday among the players who found the net in a game that had the feel of an early measuring stick for both sides.
For the Maple Leafs, the bigger concern was less about the rivalry itself than the way their special teams and late-game execution looked when the pressure tightened. Auston Matthews was part of the postgame scrutiny, and the discussion centered on Torontos power play and a few individual performances that left more questions than answers as this four-game series gets underway. [Read more 🡒]