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Ducks' Fowler aiming to be one of 'the guys who eat lots of minutes' in all situations

Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler broke out to the tune of six goals and 30 assists last season. Now, he's aiming to take even bigger steps forward.

Drafted 12th overall by the Ducks in 2010, the 22-year-old makes no bones about his desire to be seen as one of the top young defensemen in the game, citing two slightly older players as examples of how he wants to mould his game.

As he told the Ducks' official website

I like to be a guy the coaches rely upon in all situations. You see a lot of the young defensemen around the league, like the [Drew] Doughtys, the [Alex] Pietrangelos, the guys who eat lots of minutes and play on the power play and penalty kill. If you need a goal in the last minute, if you’re down a goal, protecting the lead or whatever it may be, that’s what I’m trying to do. I just want to be a guy who my teammates and my coaches know they can rely on. I just want to be consistent with that. That’s the biggest goal – and biggest challenge – for me.

Doughty and Pietrangelo both have a couple years of experience on Fowler, having been drafted second and fourth overall respectively back in 2008. As evidenced by the chart below, however, Fowler's 2013-14 stacks up relatively well with the pair, with slightly lower ice time and Corsi For rating, but with a good deal of defensive zone time against a high quality of competition. 

[Courtesy: Extra Skater]

Fowler certainly has the look of a player capable of taking his game to higher levels, and one can't go wrong by using Doughty and Pietrangelo as benchmarks.

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