If there was any debate coming into the season, the last three months have nullified it: Easton Cowan is the best prospect in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.
The 18-year-old London Knights forward is in the middle of a preposterous 29-game point streak, the CHL’s longest this season, and is tied for the OHL lead in points per game (1.77).
Cowan might have been a surprise first-round pick in 2023. But looking back (as recent as it was and as much as things can change) it’s hard to imagine him available at the 28th pick in a re-draft.
This season, he’s developed serious pro attributes: His excellent skating has helped solidify him as a 200-foot player who showcases tenacity, strong penalty-killing and an evident hockey IQ.
His point streak and noticeable improvements have have made him a valuable NHL trade chip. And there is a line of thinking that the most optimal time to move on an asset is when its value is highest.
But does that mean the Leafs should move him this week?
Cowan’s value may continue to climb. Moving him for the kind of piece that usually comes back at the trade deadline – a supplementary piece with limited term, if any – wouldn’t just be selling Cowan’s potential short, it would be detrimental to the Leafs long-term.
Consistency is often what NHL coaches look for in their teams and players. And starting with Cowan’s point streak, this season he’s proven he can produce night after night. But even so, he hasn’t cheated for offence.
“Everyone can talk about the skill or the offensive awareness, but I think his determination to play the right way even if he doesn’t have (a point) that game has stood out. He has that confidence when a play develops, it’s up to him to make it,” Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter said.
In London, Cowan is getting as close to a professional experience as possible in the CHL. That could help ease his transition to the Leafs, and even expedite it, making him valuable to the organization. His head coach, Dale Hunter, has over 1,400 games of NHL experience and is no stranger to playing the kind of tough-nosed game Brad Treliving wants in his players. Cowan plays in one of the CHL’s largest arenas on a team that has a large staff dedicated to creating players ready for professional hockey.
And in London, Dylan Hunter sees parallels between Cowan and another former Knights star: Mitch Marner.
“We had to tell (Marner) to be quiet in meetings because when we’d ask what a defenceman would do wrong, he knew it. You want to get to that level where you know what everyone’s job is so if somebody falls, you know what’s going to go wrong,” Hunter said. “(Cowan) is getting to where he knows what everybody on the ice is supposed to do, and he can cater towards that. That’s what makes a two-way guy really, really dangerous.”
Cowan’s coaches note how he is arriving to the rink earlier and staying later after practice, adding more video, stretching and shooting work to his days. From game to game, they see an added level of maturity this season that – and you’ll notice a theme here – could help his transition to the Leafs.
“Last year, (Cowan) was forcing plays. He knows now that every play isn’t going to involve a rush towards the net,” Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman said.
And when those plays didn’t go as planned last season, Steadman remembers Cowan’s frustration lingering for multiple shifts.
This season? He’s learned he can’t change past shifts. What’s important is correcting his errors the next chance he gets.
“He’s being really good about controlling the controllables,” Steadman said.
Add it up and Cowan has become the Leafs prospect with the highest ceiling with a path to the NHL. Fraser Minten and Topi Niemela could factor into the Leafs lineup at some point in 2025, sure. But can they jump into an impactful role in the Leafs lineup without any trepidation the way, say, Matthew Knies, did?
Easton Cowan is on a 29-game point streak with the London Knight. (Natalie Shave / CHL)
Moving forward, uncertainty remains over the team’s top nine next season.
David Kampf is signed but – even with his $2.4-million cap hit – is showing signs of being the team’s fourth-line centre for the remainder of his four-year contract. Pontus Holmberg also has the makings of a strong fourth-line option. Both Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi are UFA and their futures in Toronto are uncertain. There could be a role for Cowan as a productive and energetic top-nine winger in 2025. The versatility in his game, including his penchant for winning pucks on the penalty kill (Cowan’s 14 shorthanded points lead the OHL), could make him attractive to Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe next season. Let’s not forget Cowan was one of the last cuts from Leafs training camp in September.
“A lot of his points are coming from hounding the puck and stealing the puck,” Steadman said. “And whenever he’s doing that, he’s dangerous.”
Defensively, Cowan’s coaches say he’s taking a step towards the professional game by understanding game management in a way he didn’t last season: When to take risks and when not to.
Cowan has moved fluidly between the wing and centre this season. While he projects to play as a winger in the NHL, the versatility he’s gained and his ability to see different areas of the ice has benefitted him.
“He’s really starting to exploit the give-and-go game. Unless you’re (Connor McDavid), you’re not going to go one-on-one as much in the NHL,” Hunter said. “Instead of him using his feet to get to the net – where he could probably succeed – he’s using that low play near the slot to find holes.”
While there’s no guarantee he will take a top-nine role in 2025, losing Cowan would unnecessarily put the Leafs in a worse spot when planning for the future.
The salary cap flexibility of having a top-nine contributor on an entry-level contract is important. Giving up Cowan, regardless of what kind of player with term the Leafs might be able to acquire, would only add to their salary cap difficulties. Treliving has shown through his time with the Calgary Flames and in his one season in Toronto that he’s not afraid of adding sizeable contracts in free agency. Keeping Cowan and giving him the longest look possible in training camp would allow for maximum spending on top-of-the-lineup players in the summer.
And this isn’t to put any undue pressure on Cowan, who is still just a teenager, but: There’s reason, and precedent, to suggest he may be ready to try his hand at the NHL sooner than later.
It’s worth looking back at the Leafs’ last high-end prospect, Knies, and considering what a strong season in college hockey did for him. After finishing as a Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2023, he jumped into the NHL that spring and began contributing immediately. He’s now providing excellent value in a salary cap world, with a $925,000 cap hit playing on the team’s top line.
Nick Robertson scored 55 goals in 46 OHL games in 2019-20 before landing a spot in the Leafs playoff lineup in 2020, where he scored one goal in four games.
Now, we don’t know what the future holds for Knies, and there is certainly debate as to what kind of NHL player Robertson will become. But they both looked capable of contributing a year after being drafted. Right now, Cowan looks ready for the next step. Why would Leafs management deprive their coaching staff of a player they appear high on, and one whose presence would be a benefit to their salary cap picture?
So if there is upward momentum in a player’s development, why would the Leafs want to get off that fast-moving train?
What happens if Treliving dumps the Leafs’ first-round pick in 2024, as he said he’s open to? That would leave the team with just one pick in the first two rounds of the next three drafts. In what world does completely emptying your cupboards when you know you’ll have to eat soon enough make any sense?
For too long, the Leafs sold off their high draft picks. That has carved a hole in the organization’s long-term roster building. Moving Cowan this week would only see the organization unnecessarily carve that hole deeper, to a point where they’ll just have to unnecessarily spend to get out of it.
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(Top photo of Easton Cowan: David Kirouac / USA Today)
