HabsWorld.net -- 

After a particularly strange few hours of contract talks, the Habs announced
late Thursday afternoon that they have signed left winger Drayson Bowman to a
one year, $575,000, two-way deal that guarantees him $200,000 in total salary. 
This comes on the heels of him being released from his tryout a few hours
earlier after mid-day negotiations seemingly didn’t go well.

Last season, Bowman played a career high 70 games with Carolina, posting four
goals and eight assists with a -2 rating and 16 PIMS while averaging 10:21 of
ice time.  The 25 year old also registered 48 hits and 80 shots on goal. 
In his career, he has suited up for 176 games with the Hurricanes, collecting 15
goals and 18 assists.

The 6’1 winger also has spent considerable time in the minors in his career,
playing 186 games with Carolina’s AHL affiliate.  Bowman has had a lot more
offensive success at the AHL level, tallying 56 goals and 54 assists. 
Despite getting a contract today, it’s highly likely that he’ll be on waivers in
the coming days as there probably isn’t a spot up front on the opening night
roster as things stand.  If he clears, he’ll start the year with the
Hamilton Bulldogs. 

He’s now the 49th player under contract to Montreal, however, five of those
players are eligible to have their contracts slide (and all but Jacob de la Rose
have already been cut).  Speaking of contracts, it’s worth noting that
although Bowman signed as an unrestricted free agent, he will be a restricted
free agent at the conclusion of the upcoming season (pending a qualifying
offer).

Bowman’s Stats

In other news on Thursday, the club announced five cuts.  Forwards Sven
Andrighetto, Jake Dowell, and Gabriel Dumont, as well as defencemen Davis
Drewiske and Greg Pateryn, have all been assigned to Hamilton.  Dumont and
Drewiske must first pass through waivers to join the club.  There are now
29 players remaining in camp:

G (3) – Peter Budaj, Carey Price, Dustin Tokarski
D (9)- Nathan Beaulieu, Francis Bouillon, Darren Dietz, Alexei Emelin, Tom
Gilbert, Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban, Jarred Tinordi, Mike Weaver
F (17)- Michael Bournival, Rene Bourque, Drayson Bowman, Jacob de la Rose, David
Desharnais, Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Manny Malhotra,
Travis Moen, Max Pacioretty, P-A Parenteau, Tomas Plekanec, Brandon Prust, Jiri
Sekac, Christian Thomas, Dale Weise