New Jersey Devils and the Stanley Cup

After college, Dowd joined New Jersey's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate at the time, the Utica Devils. He became the first New Jersey native to play for the New Jersey Devils when he made his NHL debut during the 1991–92 season. He spent the 1991–92 and the 1992–93 seasons in the AHL, with single-game NHL appearances in both seasons. As a top scorer with the AHL's Albany River Rats (the Devils' subsequent AHL affiliate) in the 1993–94 season, Dowd made impressive appearances with the Devils, collecting 5 goals and 10 assists in 15 regular season games, and 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games during their playoff run. The labor dispute shortened the 1994–95 season, which was further shortened for Dowd when a shoulder injury and surgery caused him to miss 35 games. However, the highlight of Dowd's career with the Devils came in Game 2 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. With 1:24 left in regulation, he scored the game-winning goal, giving the Devils a 2–0 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings to take back home to New Jersey. The Devils completed the sweep at home for their first Stanley Cup Championship. Dowd became the first New Jersey native to both play and win the Stanley Cup for the Devils franchise.

Late 1990s

On December 19, 1995, less than six months after helping the Devils capture the Stanley Cup, Dowd was traded (alongside a 1997 second-round draft pick) to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Jocelyn Lemieux and a second-round pick in 1998. Later that same day, Hartford traded Dowd (alongside František Kučera and the same second-round pick in 1997) to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Jeff Brown and a fifth-round pick in 1998. Dowd would only play 38 regular season games and one playoff game for the Canucks.

On September 30, 1996, the New York Islanders claimed Dowd in the NHL Waiver Draft. He only played in three games for New York, spending the rest of the 1996–97 season with the International Hockey League (IHL)'s Utah Grizzlies and the AHL's Saint John Flames.

On July 10, 1997, Dowd signed as a free agent with the Calgary Flames. In the 1997–98 season, he played in 48 games in Calgary and another 35 regular season (and 19 playoff) games with the Saint John Flames.

On June 27, 1998, Dowd was traded to the expansion Nashville Predators in exchange for future considerations. On October 1, 1998, for the second time in his career, he was traded before playing a single game, this time to the Edmonton Oilers (alongside Mikhail Shtalenkov) in exchange for Éric Fichaud, Drake Berehowsky and Greg de Vries. Dowd appeared in one game with the Oilers during the 1998–99 season, spending the rest of the season with their AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. On September 7, 1999, as a group two free agent, he re-signed with Edmonton and played the 1999–2000 season with the Oilers, appearing in an NHL career-high 69 games.

2000s

The next chapter in Dowd's career began on June 23, 2000, when the Minnesota Wild selected him during the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. On March 4, 2004, after nearly four seasons with the Wild, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in 2004. After the season, Dowd became an unrestricted free agent and signed with Germany's Hamburg Freezers during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Following the lockout, on August 5, 2005, he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks.^[2]

On March 9, 2006, Dowd was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in 2006.^[3] His brief tenure with the Avalanche ended after the 2005–06 season, with Dowd again becoming a free agent.

On November 2, 2006, after New Jersey Devils left winger Dan LaCouture cleared waivers, the Devils signed Dowd to a one-year contract. The contract paid Dowd the NHL minimum of $450,000. When Dowd returned to the Devils, he was forced to wear jersey #12, as John Madden wore his old #11. Dowd went on to score four goals as well as have his first career multi-goal game, against the Florida Panthers.

After the season ended with a loss to the Ottawa Senators in the second round of the playoffs, questions arose about the futures of Devils veterans such as Dowd, who was scratched several times in favor of Rod Pelley. On September 11, Dowd announced that general manager Lou Lamoriello and the Devils were uninterested in offering him a contract and instead attended the Philadelphia Flyers' training camp on a try-out contract. He made the team and became a solid penalty killer and defensive center for the Flyers during the 2007–08, scoring his first goal with the Flyers against the Devils. Dowd was invited to the Flyers' training camp on a tryout basis again in 2008, he was released after the last game of the Flyers' 2008–09 pre-season, along with Bryan Berard, to allow rookie development, notably of Danny Syvret and Darroll Powe. On April 7, 2009, Dowd announced his retirement as a player.