Easton Cowan moves past Connor Bedard and is now nipping at Sidney Crosby's heels
By now, there's little doubt that the Toronto Maple Leafs hit an absolute homerun with their 1st round pick in last summer's draft as Easton Cowan has turned a lot of heads and gained a lot of believers this season in London. Now, he has moved past the likes of Connor Bedard with his latest accomplishment, which should turn a few more heads.
There has been a lot of coverage of Cowan's high-profile point streak in the OHL/CHL, which has now reached 36 games. The streak is going to receive even more attention now as Cowan has just passed Logan Stankoven (DAL) and Connor Bedard (CHI), becoming the player to own the 3rd longest point streak in CHL history, behind only Sidney Crosby (37) and Alexander Radulov (50).
Obviously, none of this is to say that Cowan will become as good or better than the likes of Crosby or Bedard, but it's a testament to his incredible body of work this season and a strong piece of evidence that good things happen to those who put in the work.
As a late first round pick, nobody was expecting much of Cowan this season. No one except the Leafs, that is. The team obviously saw something unique in Cowan, as most scouts had him ranked as a potential 3rd round pick. However, what Cowan had shown during Leafs training camp and what he's showing now in London is that he was deserving of first round consideration and the Leafs are the clear beneficiaries of believing in him and taking a swing on him with the 28th overall pick.
There's still a long road ahead for Cowan, as a pick can perform well in the OHL and still not have that success translate to the NHL, but with Cowan's skill set being mostly attributed to his work ethic and relentless motor, those are two things that you simply cannot teach. Cowan has those attributes and has shown that he is also very coachable. These things can certainly help lead to NHL success in the end.
The London Knights have just 1 game remaining, so Cowan can still theoretically Sidney Crosby's 37-game point streak, but even if he doesn't draw even with Sid the Kid, just to be in the same conversation as guys like Crosby and Bedard has to feel pretty good for Cowan, whom many had called "a reach" at 28th overall last June. He told everyone at the time that he plans to prove his doubters wrong. With his 96 points through 54 games, he's done an excellent job of that this season, much to the delight of the Maple Leafs.
| POLL | ||
MARS 25 | 316 ANSWERS Easton Cowan moves past Connor Bedard and is now nipping at Sidney Crosby's heels Will Easton Cowan be a full-time Leaf next season? | ||
| Yes, he's clearly too good for the OHL | 120 | 38 % |
| No, he'll need another year in junior | 69 | 21.8 % |
| Only bring him up if he's ready | 127 | 40.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
