Cowen calls dispute with Leafs 'a joke of a process'

Jared Cowen is trying to put his spat with the Toronto Maple Leafs behind him, but he's clearly harboring some resentment about the contract ordeal.

"It was a joke of a process," Cowen told BSN Denver's Adrian Dater at Colorado Avalanche training camp Friday. "But, it’s in the past. It was a stressful time in my life, in terms of getting traded, getting bought out, getting waived, (and) finding out I needed surgeries."

The defenseman, who joined the Avalanche on a pro tryout last month, lost his arbitration case against the Leafs back in December. He was arguing Toronto shouldn't have been able to buy out his contract because he was injured, but the Leafs were of course ultimately permitted to do so.

Cowen was a throw-in in the Dion Phaneuf trade, but never played a game for Toronto. He had a pretty blunt assessment of the sequence of events that played out.

"Basically, they got me, figured out that I was hurt, they didn’t want to deal with it and they got rid of me," he said.

He added, "I wish teams would have more of an interest in taking better care of their players instead of whatever their goal or mindset was there."

Cowen became an unrestricted free agent after losing his case, and signed his tryout agreement with the Avalanche on Aug. 29.

- With h/t to Sportsnet