Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Handing Out Camp Invites (Aug 29)

An interesting invite to the Colorado camp is defenseman Jared Cowen, a guy that had all kinds of upside to his game in his youth, while in the Ottawa system, but his career being derailed by injury in the last few seasons.

Cowen was the 9th overall selection in the 2009 draft, but he hasn't seen an NHL game since the midway point of the 2016 season and was bought out by the Maple Leafs ahead of the 2017 season, left to be an unrestricted free agent since then.

His best season was back in the 2014 campaign, where he played in 68 games and picked up 15 points.  The Avalanche have plenty of bubble spots on their blueline, which makes this move rather interesting, especially if he's 100% healthy from his hip problems.

The Florida Panthers also handed out an intriguing invite on Tuesday, bringing former Panther Brandon Pirri back to the fold for training camp.  Pirri has been one of those players seemingly on the cusp of being a pool worthy player, taken a few times in the hockey pool draft, but never quite got there.

There was already some word that he had a deal in place for a team in Europe this summer, but obviously, his priority is to play in the NHL and there is no better spot to tryout than back in Florida, where they have a ton of bubble players on their projected roster.  If Pirri can somehow get himself onto the team as a full time player and he can play more than 61 games in a season, he has a chance at being a late round pick in the pool draft or better yet, a mid-season pick-up.



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