Insider Reveals Likely Decision for Maple Leafs and Easton Cowan
Photo credit: USA Today Sports
The Maple Leafs will be making a number of roster moves over the next few days, with one of them will be deciding Easton Cowan's immediate future with the club.
Cowan has skated in all of the Leafs' pre-season games so far during training camp, but has not done a ton to stand out or control games. Head coach Craig Berube was very blunt when he was asked about how Cowan would make the team early in training camp, saying that Cowan had to show he didn't have 'junior habits' anymore.
Unfortunately, throughout the pre-season, those junior habits have shown up for Cowan, which is why TSN's Darren Dreger believes Cowan will be going back to the OHL's London Knights.
"I believe he's going back... He's been inconsistent in his level of performance in this pre-season," said Dreger on 'First Up'. "He can play. It's just is he ready to be a full-time NHL player and it seems pretty obvious he's not quite there."
The 2023 first-round pick is coming off of an MVP season with the Knights that included a ridiculous 34-game point-streak and finished the season with 34 goals and 96 points during the regular season. He and the Knights won the OHL Championship, but fell a goal short in the Memorial Cup.
In speaking with Sportsnet's Luke Fox this week about his future, Cowan was very open to the idea of being sent back to the OHL.
"It's all about what they think is right for development. If they send me back, they sent me back. If I stay up, that's obviously been my goal since I started playing hockey - to make the NHL. But if they don't think I'm ready, then I'm not gonna dwell on it. Go back to junior and have fun there."
While the best place for him to develop further would be the AHL, the 19-year-old is not eligible to be sent to the Toronto Marlies due to the NHL/CHL agreement that requires him to be sent back to junior. Although he seemingly accomplished everything he could at the junior level, Cowan should be given the opportunity to play an important role for Team Canada in December at the World Juniors as well as help London get back to the Memorial Cup.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 4 | 3057 ANSWERS Insider Reveals Likely Decision for Maple Leafs and Easton Cowan Is sending Cowan back to Junior the right decision? | ||
| Yes | 2125 | 69.5 % |
| No | 364 | 11.9 % |
| He should get a couple regular season games | 568 | 18.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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