Ottawa Senators: Shane Bowers Adds To The Sens’ Center Depth
It’s a slow news cycle for the NHL and the Ottawa Senators. With so little happening right now let’s take a look at Shane Bowers.
The newest first round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators was taken 28th overall this June. A center coming out of the USHL, Bowers had 51 points in 60 games last season. Seen as a safe pick, Bowers is projected to be a middle six type forward. Drafted late in the first round that projection would be perfect for Bowers to develop into.
Profile
While clearly having some natural offensive ability, his true appeal came from his two-way game. Central scouting reported that he has a strong 200-foot game. He’s also effective in the face-off dot. He should be able to develop into an effective penalty killer with some offensive upside. A good comparison would be someone like Pageau. It’s yet to be seen how good he’ll be just yet but that’s a fair projection.
Bowers has drawn some comparisons to another prospect in the Sens’ system, Colin White. Bowers is seen as a lite version of White. Not projected to have as much star power but should have a similar style of play. In addition he’ll be going to school in Boston this coming year. White went to Boston College and now Bowers will go to Boston University.
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Depth At Center
The interesting thing about drafting Shane Bowers is it adds to the already flooded depth the Ottawa Senators have at center. Currently in the NHL have a solid core of Turris, Brassard, and Pageau at center who aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. In the last two years they’ve also brought in Colin White and Logan Brown as first round picks who are both centers. Now adding in Shane Bowers the Sens have a core of three centers in the NHL as well as three first round center picks. This could result in the Sens moving one these players to the wing. Many players switch to the wing after playing center in junior. Bowers could be a player like that if a spot doesn’t open up. However, there’s a long time to figure that out as it will likely be a few years before he makes the NHL.