Shane Bowers inks one-year deal

The forward will be back in the organization for another season.

Late Wednesday night the Colorado Avalanche announced their final Restricted Free Agent signing of the 2022 offseason. It had dragged on a while after receiving his qualifying offer but forward Shane Bowers finally agreed to terms on a one-year two-way contract to bring him back to the organization for another season.

As a former first round pick in the 2017 draft by the Ottawa Senators and subsequent trade to the Avalanche in the Matt Duchene deal the anticipation has been brewing for several years that Bowers would make his NHL debut, which hasn’t happened yet. After leaving Boston University after his sophomore year Bowers has spent the last three years playing in the Avalanche system with the Colorado Eagles and though injuries and COVID-19 shortened seasons he has put up 45 points in 117 games playing in a depth role in the AHL.

Now that his Entry Level Contract is over so is Bowers’ waiver exemption so he either has to make the Avalanche or get waived before getting sent to the Eagles. Considering the low amount of minor league pay in this deal of $100,000 that’s probably the expectation as this is the exact same deal fellow forward Cal Burke received. There’s always a chance another good camp buys Bowers an opportunity, however.