Cam Fowler has been asked to do more for the St. Louis Blues than most expected this early, and he has done it without a point to show for it. Through the first five games, he led the team in minutes and was the defenseman Jim Montgomery trusted to run the second power-play unit, ahead of Colton Parayko and Philip Broberg.
That is why Fowler is drawing attention now. He entered the season projected more as a second- or third-pair defenseman, yet his ice time has pushed him into a much larger role almost immediately. For a player whose value last season came from producing from the back end, the early read is jarring: heavy usage, power-play responsibility, and 0 points through five games.
The contrast with 2024-25 is sharp. After the Blues acquired him for a second-round pick in a midseason trade, Fowler settled in alongside Parayko on the top pair and finished with a team-leading 36 points among defensemen, a plus-19 rating and 10 points in a seven-game series. He also posted 4 goals and 26 assists in the 2025-26 season, numbers that underline what the club believes he can still bring when his game is clicking.
That is also what makes the present stretch worth watching. Fowler was expected to help mentor Logan Mailloux, Theo Lindstein and Adam Jiricek, but Mailloux is now out at least eight weeks with a hand injury, which has helped push Fowler into even more responsibility. The Blues may need his workload to continue, but the real question is whether the minutes and power-play touches finally turn into the production that matched his breakout last season.
