Leafs look like they're giving Cowan every chance to crack final roster

The Toronto Maple Leafs might be a veteran-laden group, but all the chatter is about one 18-year-old forward during this year’s preseason.

Making his debut last night in a 4-3 home loss to Ottawa, 2023 first-round draft pick Easton Cowan logged a goal, an assist, and four shots on net in 16:29 of ice time.

“I thought he put an exclamation point on it tonight. He was outstanding,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters on Monday night.

Cowan, who the Leafs took in this year’s draft at 28th overall from the OHL’s London Knights, picked up the second star of the evening for his performance.

“On the bench, I tried to talk myself out of playing him, to be honest. I have [Auston] Matthews, [David] Kampf, [Pontus] Holmberg — these older guys that are here and need to get their minutes. But it was hard not to. Every minute that he was out there, he was making something happen… I stopped talking myself out of it and started playing him more in the third,” Keefe added.

When Cowan was originally picked by Toronto it was a pretty big surprise, as he was ranked 51st overall by NHL Central Scouting among North American skaters, as well as 53rd on Bob McKenzie’s rankings for TSN.

Cowan had 20 goals and 33 assists for a total of 53 points in 68 games for the Knights, adding nine goals and 12 assists in 21 playoff contests for London.

But Keefe reiterated that there has always been strong organizational intrigue in the young forward.

“I know nothing about the draft. I don’t watch the players. I am not part of the meetings or anything like that, but I was in Nashville a few days before. We were working on some free agency stuff. The only thing I heard all week when I was there was ‘Easton Cowan.’ He was the only name I heard. He was the guy,” Keefe added.

Keefe also said there’s “no doubt” that Cowan will be getting an extended look at this year’s training camp before deciding if they’ll keep him in the OHL or send him back to the junior ranks.

At Tuesday’s Leafs practice, Cowan was the youngest player — and the only one without any prior NHL regular season experience — to be put in the Leafs’ “Group 2” designation.

Maybe it’s just a nod to a strong preseason debut, but it seems that he impressed enough to be considered along what mostly looks like the expected opening night roster.

New #Leafs groups today: pic.twitter.com/U9Fkis39qw

— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) September 26, 2023

So if it’s not this season, it shouldn’t be long before Cowan eventually finds himself as a Leafs regular.

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