UPDATE
Turns out that you shouldn’t really trust TVA Sports, especially when they’re being vague. While Bowman was in fact released from his tryout contract, negotiations continued, and the Canadiens signed him to a one year, two-way deal. The contract is worth $575,000 in the NHL, which is extraordinarily cheap.
Pay no attention to the text below this update, but I’m not deleting it because that’s a little dishonest.
★★★
According to Louis Jean of TVA Sports, it seems that the contract talks between the Canadiens and Drayson Bowman didn’t go over too well.
Les négotiations entre les @Canadiens et Drayson Bowman sont infurctueuse. Il a été libéré.
— Louis Jean (@LouisJean_TVA) October 2, 2014
Word spread during practice today that Bowman was missing the skate to negotiate a contract with the Canadiens, but apparently they couldn’t come to a deal. It’s probably a safe assumption that the Canadiens were looking for a two-way deal for Bowman, which would allow them to use him as an insurance policy, but he played all of last year in the NHL, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to accept an AHL job to start.
Bowman was pretty impressive during preseason, several times being ‘Johnny on the spot” for big goals. but the Canadiens are extremely deep at forward, with young players waiting in the wings, so Bowman was never really a fit. His preseason performance should land him a contract somewhere though.
