Leafs prospect playing out of his mind right now, on pace to hit shocking totals this season
The Toronto Maple Leafs' decision to hold onto their 1st round pick in 2023 and using it to draft London Knights forward Easton Cowan may go down as one of the best decisions by a Leafs regime in the salary cap era by the time all is said and done.
Am I over-hyping this kid? Perhaps a little, but from the second half of last season on, Cowan has been quite literally unstoppable and has proven a lot of his doubters wrong. When his name was called with the 28th pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft in Nashville, there were a lot of puzzled looks, but those same jaws are now dropping for a new reason; Cowan's tremendous play during the 2023-24 season.
During Friday's decisive 5-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires, Cowan netted himself 3 points (1G, 1 primary assist, 1 secondary assist), bringing his point streak up to an incredible 20 games, during which time he has produced 41 points (15G, 26A). This marks the longest active point streak in the OHL this season and the longest for a London Knight since Mitch Marner produced at least a point in 21 straight games in 2015-16.
Cowan is now up to an astonishing 69 points (24G, 45A) in just 38 games this season, which puts him on pace to hit 123 points this season. Pretty incredible when you consider it took him 68 games to hit 53 points last season before he went on to score 21 points in 20 playoff games.
At this rate, we shouldn't be shocked this fall if Cowan comes to training camp and earns himself a roster spot to start the year, much like what we saw from Fraser Minten in the fall of 2023.
| POLL | ||
10 FEVRIER | 623 ANSWERS Leafs prospect playing out of his mind right now, on pace to hit shocking totals this season Will Easton Cowan become an NHL star? | ||
| Yes, the kid's unreal | 337 | 54.1 % |
| No, but he'll be a good, serviceable NHLer | 254 | 40.8 % |
| I'll be surprised if he's more than a 4th liner | 32 | 5.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
