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How Easton Cowan has fared during the first week of preseason

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Easton Cowan is the most intriguing player in Toronto Maple Leafs’ camp, with due apologies to the other participants. It’s been a whirlwind 18 months or so for Cowan. He was criticized as consensus opinion dictated that the Maple Leafs reached for him with the No. 28 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. One year later, after winning OHL MVP and OHL Playoff MVP honours with the London Knights, Cowan is the Maple Leafs’ top prospect and one of the key pillars of the future, juxtaposed against the team’s win-now timeline.

Cowan is being afforded every chance to make the Maple Leafs’ roster but it’s an open competition for the forward group, where the team has an abundance of NHL-ready players with finite spots left. The 19-year-old did not register a point in two preseason games against the Senators and was moved to the second practice group Wednesday, an indication that he needs to elevate his game quickly for an opening night roster spot.

“He did some good things. He’s a very good player. There’s a couple of situations where maybe he could have made a different decision with the puck than he did, but overall I was pretty pleased with his effort and what he did in the game,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Cowan’s performance during Sunday’s game, via TSN’s Mark Masters. 
One of the consistent analyses of Cowan — and of most players coming from major junior writ large — is the idea that he needs to rid himself of tendencies that work in the OHL, but not against NHL-calibre players. Cowan was an offensive dynamo last season, while his speed and tenacity on pucks lend itself well to a mature game in the league. He’s holding onto the puck too long while plays develop, which he can afford to do against younger, defencemen, but the pace of the game is a real thing he needs to incorporate.
“I found that I had a bit more space than I thought out there and just getting back adjusted to the speed,” Cowan said Tuesday of his performance in Sunday’s preseason game via Nick Barden of The Hockey News. “It’ll be easier for me to adjust tonight, obviously, with playing the last game and having a little game under my belt and just getting back into it. So I’m excited again for tonight.”
Cowan did some things well that didn’t show up in the scoresheet during Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Senators. In the first period, he tracked down Thomas Chabot, after delivering a clever cross-ice feed through the neutral zone to Jacob Qullian. During the second frame, Cowan drew a penalty against Senators defenceman Maxence Guenette while driving towards the net, a clear example of his speed and opportunism paying off. It helped him earn a promotion to line alongside Max Pacioretty and John Tavares.
“He’s good. I’m not surprised he’s doing so well,” Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies said of Cowan. “He’s incredibly skilled. Uses his feet and his skill to get away from bigger players, and he creates plays. I think he’s an unreal talent and I think we’re really happy to have him here.”

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If you look at the forward competition as zero-sum, this is perhaps where it gets tricky as the veteran Pacioretty separated himself from the rest of the camp hopefuls with a two-goal performance Sunday, building off a strong opening week of camp where he looks relatively no worse for wear after a series of Achilles injuries’ in years past. Pacioretty was on a line with John Tavares and Pontus Holmberg during Wednesday’s practice, with Auston Matthews and Calle Jarnkrok nursing injuries, and Cowan has real ground to make up.

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Cowan struggled throughout Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Senators. Toronto controlled just 16 percent of the expected goals when he was on the ice via Natural Stat Trick and though he did some things well — namely finding ways to get the puck to Nick Robertson on the power play — the totality of his game was overshadowed by an untimely mistake. Cowan’s stick broke and he stood helplessly in no man’s land, while Nikita Grebenkin crashed way too far down in the defensive zone, allowing Jake Sanderson to walk in unimpeded for an equalizing goal.

It’s just a matter of time before Cowan is a permanent fixture with the Maple Leafs as the franchise’s top-ranked prospect, who dominated at the major junior level. Through the opening week, Cowan’s talent has often stood out but he needs to eventually get on the scoresheet and continue to simplify the game. There’s no shame in returning to London for another year, with a chance at Memorial Cup redemption, but with four preseason games to go, it may be an uphill battle for the 19-year-old forward.

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