Ducks trade D Cam Fowler to St. Louis, ending his 15-season tenure in Anaheim

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Ducks traded Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, abruptly ending the veteran defenseman's 15-season tenure in Anaheim.

The Blues sent a second-round pick in 2027 and minor-league defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka to Anaheim for a fourth-round pick in 2027 and Fowler, the top-scoring defenseman in Ducks franchise history.

The 33-year-old Fowler was Anaheim's first-round pick in 2010, and he has scored 457 points for the Ducks after making the NHL roster as a teenager. He leads Anaheim in career goals (96), assists (361) and appearances (991) among defensemen.

Anaheim retained about 38.5% of Fowler's remaining contract, which carries a $6.5 million cap hit. He is signed through the 2025-26 season.

Fowler has no goals and four assists in 17 games this season, returning to the lineup in early December after missing a month with an upper-body injury.

“After meeting with Cam several times over the last few months, it became clear to both of us it may be time for a change,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. "As usual, Cam handled the process with professionalism and remained committed to the Ducks. Cam and his family deserve nothing but the best going forward, and we wish them the best of luck.”

Only Ryan Getzlaf has played more games in a Ducks uniform than Fowler, a key component of Anaheim's successful run of five consecutive Pacific Division titles and two Western Conference finals appearances from 2013-17. Fowler has been a fixture on the Ducks' blue line since he was 18 years old, and he famously lived with former Anaheim captain Scott Niedermayer's family when he first broke into the NHL.

But the Ducks haven't made the playoffs since 2018, enduring a six-year drought that doesn't appear to be ending this season. Anaheim (10-14-4) is in last place in the Pacific with a five-game losing streak heading into Saturday's game at Columbus.

Fowler has been a steady contributor throughout his career with the Ducks, but he made just one All-Star team during the 2016-17 season, and his offensive production was sometimes sabotaged by defensive mistakes. He seemed to be the obvious choice to become the Ducks' new captain when Getzlaf retired in 2022, but Verbeek elected to go without a captain for two seasons instead.

“This was a difficult trade to make considering what Cam has meant to this organization,” Verbeek said. “He has been a valuable and respected member of our team for 15 seasons, representing the Ducks with ultimate class. His character and contributions on and off the ice have, and will continue to leave, a positive impact on our fans and community."

The Ducks bolstered their blue line last week by acquiring Rangers captain Jacob Trouba in a trade. Anaheim also has promising young defensemen Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger and Jackson LaCombe alongside veterans Brian Dumoulin and captain Radko Gudas.

Fowler is joining a team with playoff aspirations. The Blues are 5-2-1 since Jim Montgomery took over behind the bench. St. Louis has missed the past two postseasons.

The 22-year-old Biakabutuka has played five AHL games for the Blues, who signed him in July 2023. He is the nephew of former NFL running back Tim Biakabutuka.

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From left, Anaheim Ducks right wing Sam Colangelo, defenseman Cam Fowler, and left wing Ross Johnston skate after the team's loss to the Vegas Golden Knights during an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler (4) shoots during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

The Geminids — among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids — will be visible until Dec. 21, although peak viewing was on Dec. 13. Here’s what to know about the Geminids and other meteor showers. It's one of the year's last chances to see fireballs in the sky.

The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum.

Under ideal viewing conditions, the Geminids typically put on one of the best and brightest shows of the year because of the high volume of meteors visible each hour. However, an almost full moon this year means up to 15 meteors per hour were expected at peak time, according to the American Meteor Society.

The moonlight “will wash out a lot of them," Brummel said.

Viewing lasts until Dec. 21. Here’s what to know about the Geminids and other meteor showers.

Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.

Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets, but a few — including the Geminids — result from the debris of asteroids. The Geminids come from the sun-orbiting asteroid 3200 Phaethon.

When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”

The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.

The rocky nature of asteroid debris makes the Geminids especially likely to produce fireballs, said NASA's William Cooke. “Those are pretty tough rocks that can penetrate deep into the atmosphere,” he said.

Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and predawn hours.

It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.

And your eyes will better adapted to seeing meteors if you aren’t checking your phone.

The next meteor shower, the Ursids, will peak on Dec. 22.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - A meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Geminids meteor shower over an Orthodox church on the local cemetery near the village of Zagorie, Belarus, late, Dec. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2023 photo provided by NOIRLab, meteors from the Geminid meteor shower streak across the sky above the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a program of the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, located about 56 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Tucson in the Tohono O'odham Nation. (NSF/NOIRLab via AP, File)

A shooting star, top right, is seen over eastern Brandenburg, Germany, while a person shines a flashlight into the night sky, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)