Montreal—The Ottawa Senators looked past a tough knee surgery and selected a defenseman once thought to be able to push Victor Hedman as the best defender in the draft.
Early in 2009 Jared Cowen went down with a severe knee injury and missed the entire season. While some have worried Cowen would be limited long-term with the injury by all published accounts the surgery went well and the young defender should be able to have a long career in the NHL.
“He’s going to be a top defenseman in the National Hockey League. It might take him a couple years to get used to the quicker speeds, but I think he’s going to be a big, reliable guy back there for a couple years,” said NHL Central Scouting’s Blair MacDonald. “We saw him turn his game up a couple notches last year in the Memorial Cup run and I think that was a pretty good indicator of what he’s going to be like.”
PHN analysis; this is the type of a high-risk pick which could make-or-break a franchise. If Cowen has indeed recovered he could go a long ways towards bring the Senators blue line back to respectability.
