Drayson Bowman

Drayson Jack Bowman (born March 8, 1989) is an American former professional ice hockey player. A center, he previously played for the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bowman was selected 72nd overall by the Hurricanes in the 2007 NHL entry draft.

Bowman spent four years at the major junior level with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He won a Memorial Cup with the Chiefs in 2008 and was named a WHL West Second Team All-Star in 2009. He turned professional in 2009–10 and has spent the majority of his tenure with the Hurricanes in the team's farm system with the Albany River Rats and Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL). Internationally, Bowman has competed for the United States at the 2009 IIHF World U20 Championships.

Early life Bowman was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was raised in Littleton, Colorado, after his family moved in the early 1990s.

As a youth, Bowman played in the 2001 and 2002 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with the Colorado Junior Avalanche minor ice hockey team from Littleton. Bowman attended Deer Creek Middle School in Littleton.

Playing career

Junior Bowman was selected eighth overall by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft. He debuted in four games with the Chiefs in 2004–05, a season he spent primarily at the Junior B level with the Kimberley Dynamiters of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). He recorded 29 goals and 59 points over 47 games with the Dynamiters to be named the Eddie Mountain Division's rookie of the year. Bowman joined the Chiefs full-time in 2005–06 and notched 17 goals and 34 points over 72 games (17th in WHL rookie scoring) to be named the team's rookie of the year.

Bowman entered the 2006–07 season listed as the ninth-best WHL prospect in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau (CSB)'s preliminary rankings of draft-eligible players. Playing in six post-season games, Bowman recorded a team-leading seven points (two goals and five assists). The Chiefs were eliminated in the first round by the Everett Silvertips. Entering the 2007 NHL entry draft in the off-season, he moved up to 36th among North American skaters in the NHL CSB's final rankings. His 42 goals tied for fourth in the league. Bowman added a team-leading 20 points in 21 playoff games as the Chiefs captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions. The league title earned the Chiefs a berth in the 2008 Memorial Cup in Kitchener, Ontario. Bowman notched a hat trick in the opening game of the tournament, including the game-tying goal late in the third period of a 5–4 overtime win over the Belleville Bulls. Bowman was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team.

Following his Memorial Cup performance, the Hurricanes signed him to a three-year, US$2.06 million contract on July 31, 2008. Playing in his final season with the Chiefs in 2008–09, Drayson was named an alternate captain to Justin McCrae along with Seth Compton and Jared Spurgeon. He was named WHL and CHL Player of the Week after recording 12 points in 3 games for the week ending on February 1, 2009. The next month, he earned his second WHL and CHL Player of the Week distinctions with an eight-point effort in two games for the week ending on March 15, 2009. He finished the season with 47 goals, fourth in the league, and a junior career-high 83 points to lead his team in scoring for the second consecutive year. He was named to the WHL West Second All-Star Team along with goaltending teammate Dustin Tokarski. Bowman and the Chiefs were not able to defend their WHL or CHL titles as they were eliminated in seven games in the second round of the WHL playoffs by the Vancouver Giants. Spokane's elimination marked the end of Bowman's junior career. He left the Chiefs fifth on the team's all-time goals scored list with 136, 10 behind leader Pat Falloon. He had 114 assists for 250 points total over 269 games.

Professional Upon the completion of Bowman's final WHL season, he was called up by the Hurricanes to travel and practice with the team during their 2009 playoff season. Carolina advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in four games. The following season, he was assigned to the Hurricanes' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Albany River Rats. He scored his first professional goal in his AHL debut with Albany on October 3, 2009, in a 6–3 loss to the Manchester Monarchs. Midway through the season, he was called up by the Hurricanes and made his NHL debut on January 16, 2010. Bowman recorded one shot on goal in 10 minutes of ice time in a 5–3 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers. After being sent back down to Albany, he received another call-up on March 24 in light of an injury to forward Tuomo Ruutu. During that call-up, he scored his first and second career NHL goals against goaltender Antero Niittymaki in the first period of an 8–5 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 6. The milestone occurred in his seventh NHL game. Bowman completed the 2009–10 NHL season with two goals in nine games, while averaging 12 minutes of ice time. Hurricanes head coach Paul Maurice heralded him as a player with "a good set of hands and a really good hockey IQ" during his first stint in the NHL. Bowman was reassigned to the River Rats for their 2010 playoff season. In the AHL, he finished the regular season with 32 points (17 goals and 15 assists) over 56 games, tying for 31st among league rookies and 10th among River Rats players. Bowman added nine points (three goals and six assists) over eight games in the playoffs (ranking fifth among rookies and tying for first in team scoring) as the River Rats were eliminated in the second round by the Hershey Bears.

Bowman made the Hurricanes' roster out of training camp in 2010–11, but was returned to the AHL within a month. With the Hurricanes having changed their minor league affiliate, he joined a new team, the Charlotte Checkers. After recording 30 points (12 goals and 18 assists) over 51 games with the Checkers (10th in team scoring), he was recalled on March 10, 2011. Carolina failed to qualify for the playoffs, coming within three points of the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference. With his NHL season over, the Hurricanes returned him to the AHL,

Bowman remained with Charlotte for the beginning of the 2011–12 season, failing to make the Hurricanes' roster out of training camp. The goals were his first in the NHL in over a year and eight months. After being reassigned, he received two more call ups before the end of the season. On October 2 Bowman agreed to a one-year two way contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

Bowman was not re-signed by the Canadiens and on October 12, 2015, without any NHL interest, Bowman signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL. After registering 3 assists in 3 games with the Eagles to start the 2015–16 season, Bowman was loaned to former club, the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL on October 22, 2015. Bowman played a further 16 games with the Checkers before he left the club to pursue a European career in agreeing to a contract for the remainder of the season in Germany with Düsseldorfer EG of the DEL on December 21, 2015.

After two seasons with DEG, Bowman joined his brother Collin in returning to the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL as a free agent on September 14, 2017.

International play Bowman was named to the United States' under-20 team for the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa, Ontario. He was joined on the national team by Spokane Chiefs teammates Tyler Johnson and Mitchell Wahl. Playing against Germany in the first game of preliminaries, he scored twice and was named player of the game. Over six games at the tournament, Bowman totalled three goals and one assist, tying for fifth in team point-scoring. After losing to Slovakia 5–3 in the quarterfinal, the United States beat the Czech Republic 3–2 in overtime of their placement game to rank fifth in the tournament.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2004–05 Kimberley Dynamiters KIJHL 47 29 30 59 108 — — — — — 2004–05 Spokane Chiefs WHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Spokane Chiefs WHL 72 17 17 34 51 — — — — — 2006–07 Spokane Chiefs WHL 61 24 19 43 55 6 2 5 7 4 2007–08 Spokane Chiefs WHL 66 42 40 82 62 21 11 9 20 8 2008–09 Spokane Chiefs WHL 62 47 36 83 107 12 8 5 13 8 2009–10 Albany River Rats AHL 56 17 15 32 29 8 3 6 9 12 2009–10 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 9 2 0 2 4 — — — — — 2010–11 Charlotte Checkers AHL 51 12 18 30 53 15 2 6 8 6 2010–11 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 23 0 1 1 12 — — — — — 2011–12 Charlotte Checkers AHL 42 13 13 26 45 — — — — — 2011–12 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 37 6 7 13 4 — — — — — 2012–13 Charlotte Checkers AHL 37 14 8 22 21 — — — — — 2012–13 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 37 3 2 5 17 — — — — — 2013–14 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 70 4 8 12 16 — — — — — 2014–15 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 62 14 19 33 33 — — — — — 2014–15 Montreal Canadiens NHL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2015–16 Colorado Eagles ECHL 3 0 3 3 2 — — — — — 2015–16 Charlotte Checkers AHL 16 2 2 4 10 — — — — — 2015–16 Düsseldorfer EG DEL 24 10 7 17 33 5 1 0 1 4 2016–17 Düsseldorfer EG DEL 51 11 9 20 24 — — — — — 2017–18 Colorado Eagles ECHL 65 20 35 55 66 20 5 6 11 14 NHL totals 179 15 18 33 53 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2009 United States WJC 5th 6 3 1 4 6 Junior totals 6 3 1 4 6

Awards and honors Award Year KIJHL Eddie Mountain Division rookie of the year 2005 WHL and CHL player of the week January 26 – February 1, 2009March 9–15, 2009 International World Junior Championships player of the game vs. Germany, preliminaries; 2009