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.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
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)
PHOENIX (AP) — From heartbreak and devastation to outrage, Emily Pike's tragic death is stirring heavy emotions and putting the spotlight to a crisis that has long plagued Native American communities, where a disproportionate number of people have been killed or have gone missing.
In the case of the San Carlos Apache teenager, she disappeared from her group home on the edge of a Phoenix suburb in late January.
Authorities posted her picture on social media, saying she was missing and had possibly run away. Just a couple inches shy of 5 feet tall, she was wearing a pink and gray shirt.
It was nearly a month later that sheriff's deputies in a neighboring county reported finding and identifying Pike's remains. It was more than 80 miles (129 kilometers) from where she was last seen.
Since then, news of her brutal death has reverberated through Indian Country and beyond. A crowd gathered Thursday at an intersection in Mesa, near her group home, to honor her life and to press for changes that might help curb the violence.
Dozens of people of all ages viewed the vigil's program on a large inflatable projector. Clad in red, they embraced, shielded candle flames on the windy night and held posters that read “No more stolen sisters” and “Justice for Emily Pike.”
“These tears that are shed are a part of a healing process,” said Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Titla was wearing pink — Pike's favorite color. She said Pike had dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.
Advocates say the crisis stems from colonization and forced removal, which marginalized Indigenous people by erasing their culture and identity. Limited funding, understaffed police departments and a jurisdictional checkerboard that prevents authorities from working together have only exacerbated the issue.
Pike's case has drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands of people through social media. Some have shared photos of themselves, their mouths covered with a red handprint that has become emblematic of the movement to end the violence. Posts included the hashtags #NoMoreStolenSisters, #SayHerName and #JusticeforEmily.
In Wisconsin, organizers planned for their own candlelight vigil. Fliers in Colorado encouraged people to wear red, and Daisy Bluestar, a Southern Ute tribal member on Colorado's Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force, posted a video about Pike with the hashtag #ColoradoStandsWithYou.
The girl's basketball team at Miami High School in Arizona wore jerseys with “MMIW” and a red handprint on the back.
“We’re all mourning this terrible loss of a precious young girl. Emily really has become everyone’s daughter, granddaughter and niece,” Titla said.
Titla herself has three female relatives who went missing and were killed. She said the community has come together to honor Pike and to demand justice. This shared solidarity comes from a desire for healing from historical and generational trauma, she said.
“It affects so many people," Titla said, “and I think the reason is because we all know someone — it could be a relative, it could be a friend, it could be in our own tribal community.”
Pike's remains were found northeast of Globe, Arizona, the Gila County Sheriffs Office said.
Like many others, her case involves multiple agencies. Gila County is working with Mesa police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mesa police typically don't investigate runaway reports, but the agency did list Pike as missing on its Facebook page two days after the group home reported she was gone.
Arizona's Department of Child Safety requires notification of a child's missing status to occur within a day of receiving the information. However, that requirement doesn't extend to tribal social services, according to Anika Robinson, president of the nonprofit foster care advocacy group ASA Now. Pike was in the custody of San Carlos Apache Tribe Social Services, which could not be reached for comment, at the time she went missing from the group home in Mesa.
Mesa police reported Pike as missing to the National Crime Information Center the evening of Jan. 27. Police have said it would have been up to the group home to contact her case manager who then would have contacted Pike's family or tribe.
The girl's mother, Steff Dosela, has said in interviews that she didn't hear about her daughter’s disappearance until a week later.
Robinson questioned why it took so long. “Imagine what probably had already transpired by that week,” she said.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2023 created a task force to identify policies for addressing the high rates of disappearances and killings among the Native American population. A final report is due in 2026.
Washington, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming also have created task forces dedicated to the crisis.
President Donald Trump during his first term created the nation's first task force to begin looking at the problem, dubbing it Operation Lady Liberty. The Biden administration followed with a special unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. attorneys' offices in key areas began taking a closer look at unsolved cases, and top officials held listening sessions across the nation. Just last month, the federal government launched an initiative to help solve missing and unidentified person cases.
Tiffany Jiron, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, said more comprehensive law enforcement training that address jurisdictional challenges, increased funding for tribal programs that provide shelter, mental health resources and legal aid to impacted families and survivors and strengthened alert systems are among the policy solutions that advocates should continue to fight for to address the systemic crisis.
“As an Indigenous people, we are not invisible,” she said. “We deserve just as much attention from law enforcement. Our cases are involving real people, real families, real children.”
People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
A sign lies on the ground at a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
A tribute to slain Native American teen Emily Pike adorns a fence near a vigil in her honor in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)
