Then an up-and-down six seasons in the Ottawa Senators organization, the way most young defensemen spend their time learning their craft.
That was the career trajectory of Jared Cowen, the ninth-overall draft pick of 2009, until February 9th, 2016, when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Colin Greening, Milan Michalek, Tobias Lindberg and a second-round draft pick, for Dion Phaneuf, Matt Frattin, Ryan Rupert, Casey Bailey and Cody Donahey.
Cowen hasn't played since that season - heck, he never even played a game for the Leafs. Instead, they realized he was playing through an injury and bought him out, a move that is against the rules of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement that the NHL let slide because it's the Leafs and their GM at the time was Lou Lamoriello, and the Leafs need to be good for Canadian ratings to be good, revenue to flow in, and Lamoriello was supposed to bring them a much-needed Stanley Cup, like Dave Nonis before him, and Brian Burke before him, and John Ferguson Jr. before him, and Pat Quinn before him, and Ken Dryden before him, and Cliff Fletcher before that.
Wow, that's a lot of GMs since the 1990s. I wonder how long they've been without a Cup for, must be a while. I guess that's what you get when you're better at managing "assets" than "players".
That being said, Cowen did get a look at the Colorado Avalanche's camp the following pre-season, but he didn't make it very far. My guess is he's still suffering from all the injuries he fought through.
Here he is from better days, sporting Team Canada's white (home) uniform, on card #108 from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Team Canada collection:
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