Throughout a lengthy training camp – and more preseason games than any of his teammates – the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to see what Easton Cowan was capable of. And just as much, they wanted to see what Cowan could eliminate from his game as he tried to graduate from the OHL to the NHL.
“In the end, he has to be detailed,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said of Cowan when camp opened. “A lot of players coming out of junior hockey still have the junior habits. He needs to show us that he doesn’t have those junior habits anymore.”
There were moments when Cowan, 19, looked ready for the NHL. The Leafs’ 2023 first-round pick and top prospect showed his playmaking and skating were dynamic enough and his work ethic was never questioned. But Cowan wasn’t always able to sustain those flashes shift after shift. What was missing was the consistency, heightened pace of play and muscle from the 5-foot-11.5 Cowan.
“Lot of full-grown men out there, so it’s hard to win puck battles,” Cowan told The Athletic of matching up against the likes of Chris Tanev.
Cowan’s ingrained work ethic suggests those elements of his game will come in the NHL. Cowan was the team’s final cut on Monday afternoon.
While not strong enough for the NHL just yet and unable to play elsewhere, the OHL MVP will return to the London Knights for another season to, ironically, eradicate those lingering junior habits.
So, was Cowan ready for the best league in the world right now? No.
But, and here’s where it gets tricky, does he have anything to prove in the OHL after torching the league with 1.78 points per game? Again, no.
Is he ready to start playing against men and could his development be buoyed by heightened competition? Yes.
The Leafs hope Cowan can elevate his game even further. He will now be expected to dominate every single game in London. The confidence and consistency that comes with that experience could aid in his development.
Even still, eradicating “junior habits” while playing against teenagers in junior hockey verges on a self-defeating proposal for Cowan. His next steps only highlight how the CHL-NHL agreement potentially hinders elite-level talent in the three Canadian major junior leagues.
Any player drafted out of the CHL cannot move to the AHL, and play against professionals, until they turn 20 or complete four seasons of junior hockey. That’s what will likely allow Fraser Minten to head to the Toronto Marlies this season, where he can focus on adding more production to his game.
The arguments from the CHL deserve to be heard: Junior teams retaining top talent like Cowan helps them remain financially viable. In smaller cities across Canada and the United States, players like Cowan are stars. And stars sell tickets. Plus, the next Cowan – an undrafted 17-year-old – being able to compete against players on the fringes of the NHL should improve their own play and further their development. Rising tides lift all boats, as they say.
Fair points, but do they serve players like Cowan?
With players like Cowan, it might be better if the Leafs themselves could better determine his fate. If an NHL team at the top of the food chain has signed a draft pick they’ve scouted, begun to develop and plan to make part of their team eventually, shouldn’t they – in conjunction with the player – have the final say on where that player spends his season?
This isn’t to suggest every NHL draft pick from the CHL should play in the AHL immediately. But exceptions might benefit the best players. It feels wrong for two players, perhaps drafted back-to-back, of equally elite talent levels to be sent to play against different levels of competition simply because of their birthplace. Players drafted from European clubs, like William Nylander, can play in men’s professional leagues in Europe after being drafted. Nylander spent the season after being drafted splitting his time in Sweden’s top division playing against men and the AHL.
So with the best recently-drafted players, like Cowan, in mind, here’s a proposal: Every NHL team should have the opportunity to pull one prospect per season signed to an ELC out of the CHL. That would still respect the CHL-NHL agreement but also allow the Leafs to loan Cowan to a European team and play against men for a season.
Should an NHL team make that choice, they would have to send a finite amount of cash to the player’s junior team to make up for lost gate revenue. If that cash counts against the team’s salary cap picture for the season, it would eliminate calls that such an agreement only benefits the league’s richer teams.
If you’re the Leafs and you believe your most prized prospect needs to eliminate junior habits from their game, wouldn’t you be willing to spend the necessary cash to help him do so by not playing junior hockey?
There was a reason Auston Matthews and his family wanted to eschew playing for the Everett Silvertips. The WHL franchise owned Matthews’ rights. Instead of spending his draft year in the WHL, Matthews lit up the Swiss National League playing against men. He jumped into the NHL headfirst afterward.
If a player’s development is accelerated and better players are created long-term, why shouldn’t a small number of players like Cowan be able to play in say, Switzerland, Germany or Finland? That could go a long way for Cowan to avoid those pesky junior habits.
The idea didn’t sound so foreign to Christer Olsson, head coach SC Bern of the National League.
“Early draft picks, if they’re not going to make their NHL team, instead of going back to play junior hockey, bring them to Europe: fast leagues, skilled leagues, where they can develop playing against adults,” Olsson said. “They would develop even more playing at a really high level because in these leagues, you’re playing against the best players in Europe or internationally.”
And that could possibly make a player like Cowan ready for the NHL sooner.
The closest Cowan will come to Europe will be when he opens the 2025 world juniors for Canada against Finland. He’s not only a lock for Canada’s world junior team, but Cowan will be expected to play a major role on a team looking to recover from their worst showing in five years. The burden that comes with playing for Canada at home could help Cowan’s ability to play in pressure-filled situations.
Expectations for Cowan won’t just be high with Canada. Cowan will log heavy minutes in all situations for the Knights and for the Leafs development staff to keep a close eye on him. Toward the end of last season, Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman said that he believed Cowan would benefit from one more season in the OHL.
“If he goes up, chances are he won’t get power play time and those high-end offensive opportunities. And he would get those with us. That would turn him into a more well-rounded player,” Steadman said.
How Cowan masters those elements of his game in the OHL could determine whether we’re having the same conversation about his Leafs chances in a year.
“And hopefully, (Cowan) will then start in the (Leafs) top six instead of the bottom six and working his way up,” Steadman said.
(Top photo: Lance McMillan / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
