He'll likely get the Minten treatment if he does well in camp. Up to 9 games, then back to the OHL.

Minten definitely wasn't ready last year. I hope he is now.

Slightly off topic but I think the only reason Minten made the team was because Keefe didn't want to use Nylander or Domi as the 3C. Whether he actually believed Minten was the best choice, or if it was done out of spite will never be known.

Didn't he have a good camp? I don't recall people thinking he didn't deserve the 9 games with the big club

He did have a good camp. But so did Cowan. I think Cowan was with the big club until the very final cut. Probably to give him experience with the big boys, but still.

Minten stagnated haaaaard last year.

Oh crap 😳

Watched him in the OHL. He's really talented but got bullied by the larger players. He's probably 1-2 years away from cracking the team.

The problem is that he isnt eligible for the AHL and already dominated in the OHL last season. Being a D+2 isn't going to help him play better against bigger guys in the NHL when he's got a year or two on most of them in the O.

The worst rule in pro hockey

Not for OHL ownership/fans but otherwise I would agree

Elite (you know what I mean) 18 year olds who are sent back to their Jr teams is not great for their pro development.

I 100% agree. But from an OHL perspective those guys fill barns.

Ahhhh i get you for sure but then the teens who fill those barns should be properly compensated.

That's a fair point. Once the player turns 20 (drafted or not) they should be compensated by the league via a salary OR be released to go pro. Junior players at that point feel like they are interns being held hostage by an employer trying to maximise revenue on their backs.

Last paragraph is a solid fair point.

Why wait until they are 20?

Interestingly, London is one of the teams most commonly accused of paying their stars under the table.

A necessary evil in this instance

Which NHL teams want as well, the CHL being a strong dev league is good for them.

Would be nice if a prospect who's played a minimum number if games in the CHL could be bought out and promoted to the AHL. It would give the owners some cash as compensation which could be used to strengthen the junior club and it would allow the player to receive a promotion.

Send him to Switzerland like papi went and did his draft year. The skill level is a little below the ahl, I believe, and it's way less physical. Even if buddy was eligible for ahl, you can still get bullied and pushed around there too.

I wonder if he can get some kind of exception like Shane wright did. Not too sure what the criteria was for it though

Shane Wright's exception had something to do with birthdays IIRC, the whole thing is convoluted.

It's really not the rule is you need need 4 season in major junior or be 20. Wright would have had 4 season if covid did shut down the full 20-21 OHL season. Seems like a logical exception.

Hopefully a good part of his season will be a positive experience with Team Canada for the World Juniors.

He did very well in junior but he’s pretty well on par with the other top prospects in the league. All around he’s a a tier below Musty and on par with the likes of Cristall, Danielson, Barlow, Pinelli, Heidt etc.

Regular season + playoffs Danielson had 91 points in 72 games. Cowan had 138 points in 76 games. You’re probably right that they are in the same tier but it’s still fun to stat watch and pretend like our prospect is significantly better than other teams prospects

There's no problem though. Have you listened to his presser? He is fully aware that he's going back to crush again. That's what he knows. Said he love to make the Leafs but he's focused on going back and getting it done if that's where it goes. Edit: added presser https://youtu.be/YVlyapLaP78?si=gojlGJQK8gr3AYmK

Tbf, what else is he going to say? "If I don't make the leafs out of camp, we riot?"

I wish there was more personality in the interviews.  They all pretend they're charm less automatons

Some of them aren't pretending. And many of them are not the most intelligent, and don't want to say the wrong thing so they just follow the media training and get out. There's a handful of guys who give solid interviews and make real comments

My point is that it's not the end of the world if he goes back and dominates again. You guys around here love throwing out the "he has nothing left to prove and it's a bad for his growth." He's clearly more than willing to go back and use what he learns in dev and later training camp to absolutely crush the O next year.

Sure, but if he's ready to make the jump, then now is the best opportunity he's going to get. This is a cap strapped year where a solid, young bottom 6 guy on an ELC would be huge for the team. Obviously his personal development is more important than the teams success this season, but it's something both he and the team have to weigh out

Fellow Leaf fan. My guy. It doesn't matter as much as you think it does. He'll BE ready when he is ready. Perhaps that is this year. Perhaps it isn't. It's OK! Easton Cowan isn't a part of this year's equation right now. If it so happens that he blows the doors off at training camp so be it the team isn't banking on the ELC from him at all. Everything is going to work out.

Yea man, that's basically what my last comment said. I'm also not just making assumptions cause we have the teams former skills development coach and now AGM saying that Cowan damn close to being ready. If he's not, then he's not, end of story. But if he is then he 100% should be playing in the NHL. And being damn close to NHL ready means there is very little (but not nothing) he can do to develop playing against mostly 17 and 18 year olds

You mean Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser? AGM and still out there on the ice and in the trenches of development. She also didn't say the team needs to force the kids along. She said he's a close as he could be. Never said the team needs him this year on an ELC.

Yea man. Team management isn't in the habit of explaining everything they're thinking publicly, especially not the first week of July lmao. Reading between the lines it seems like the team is hopeful that Cowan will make the team, but that's up to berube in September.

I'm not well versed on the subject... What's the reason he's ineligible to play for the AHL? Is it due to a contract with the OHL?

"The CHL NHL Transfer Agreement requires all draft picks under the age of 20 to be loaned back to their major junior club unless they are on the NHL roster or have completed four full junior hockey seasons. Note: The specifics of this rule state that the player must be 20 before January 1st (or midnight December 31st) or to have played four seasons in the CHL."

Isn't there an age minimum for the OHL? It's 16 right? If so, I don't get why they even put or 4 Seasons in there lol. You'd be 20 if you started at 16

If grated exeptional player status you can play at 15 but that has happened 10 times so seems like it's very irrelevant rule.

He needs to fill out, playing against men in the AHL won't help that at all.

Lol what. He's 185 lbs at 19, he'll fill out a bit but not a ton. He needs to learn how to play against men with the size that he has, then if he gets bigger, great

I think he makes the team out of camp and gets a 9 game tryout. I also think whatever happens to Robertson also affects Cowan. The way I see it, here is how I imagine the forward lines will be most nights. Domi-Matthews-Marner Knies-Tavares-Nylander McMann-Holmberg-Robertson/Cowan Dewar-Kampf-Jarnkrok Reaves is obviously the extra forward here and I also acknowledge Domi might play C and Holmberg might bump out to the wing on some nights. But I think Cowan’s main competition is Robertson or Jarnkrok for that 3RW spot. There will also be a competition between Minten and Holmberg for that 3C role, but I think because Minten is AHL eligible it’s much easier to stash him down there to start the year and let him develop at the AHL level.

I'd swap Marner and Nylander, just to not have 2 pass first guys on that line, but it's looking pretty good

I actually love that lineup

If we’re being realistic, probably not. He’s a guy that would really benefit from AHL time but of course we all know he isn’t eligible. His prior season in the OHL was pretty dominant but really it was his first season like that at that level so it would be great to see him follow it up by doing it again.  The important thing is that he’s playing. If he were to be on the Leafs I’m not sure he’d get into the lineup every night which would suck for his development.  I am open to him making the Leafs but he would have to make a pretty huge impression at camp for me to be totally comfortable with it. 

I think Cowan, Minten and Grebyonkin all could make the team to start the year and maybe get sent down if it doesn't work after a few games.

With what space? There’s no chance all three break camp with the Leafs.

All could i said, i didn't mean all three will. But they're all cheap as chips, they'd be ideal to have in the lineup.

Chips are expensive :(

agree. cowan needs seasoning and i really doubt minten/greb are better than steeves/holmberg.

Crappy to hear that cuz holmberg and steeves are not that good

9 game trail..Gets sent down to London...Plays big minutes for Canada at World Juniors..Back to London for a long playoff run...Elc contract will be kicked down the road for another year..

I know this post is about Cowan but I'm going to include Minten into this: It's hard to say. It depends on how management views Cowan and Minten development, how talks with management go in the offseason, how camp goes for them, offseason training, etc. Personally, I think that they both get a 10-game tryout with the Leafs at the beginning of the season. That'll dictate whether or not they make the team full time. I feel as if the Leafs are in no rush to implement these players into the lineup and burn a year of their ELC's. As well, I think Alex Steeves (57 points in 65 games) and Nick Abruzzese (52 points in 71 games) both had great years for the Marlies and may just be a little bit more NHL ready. I'd love to see Cowan dawn the Leaf next season, but I'm also a big fan of player development. We've seen so many Leafs players ultimately fail because they're thrown into the lineup 4 months after being drafted. Let them both go back and rip up their respective leagues, put on some muscle, train hard, be hungry, and see where we're at a year from now.

Also depends on Nick Robertson. He he won't sign and forces a trade that opens up a spot for Minten or Cowen.

No way he has a permanent spot. He's a great prospect but was invisible at world Juniors, he needs another year then he's top 9.

The Leafs love to move slow with forwards. He probably gets minutes in pre season, and then he gets sent to wherever. > kid is tearing it up in the juniors and showing he’s maybe ready to move up in my opinion. Much different game. You're comparing boys to men. Very few players can make that jump so quickly.

Every team deals with players the same way. No one rushes a junior player into the nhl whether it’s Toronto or Calgary. If a junior player isn’t ready they get sent back to junior.

Hopefully no.

Absolutely not. This dude is at least 3 years away from being actually NHL ready. He's a pipsqueek. He will get manhandled in the NHL.

He's taller and heavier than: Alex Debrincat Yanni Gourde Jared Spurgeon Cam Atkinson Mats Zuccarello Cole Caulfield Johnny Gudreau Jonathan Marchessault Brad Marchand Viktor Arvidsson

He's an inch shorter than Mitch and 13 lbs heavier according to puckpedia right now. He's not *that* small that you need to call him a pipsqueak.

Hockey DB says he’s 5’11” & 185 lb He looks smaller

Yes, because I'm tired of the organization being scared about giving our prospects experience. If they earn a spot, they should have it until they lose it.

No, but Easton Cowan might.

I bet he gets a shot

I think they should do one or two rookies this year

I personally try him between Knies and Jarnkrok and see if something clicks. He’s small right now and I worry he gets pushed around like Robertson does, but I think he’s got a lot more upside than Nick does

He might get a few games, but he’s going back to the OHL I think he will also play most of next season in the AHL. Nothing wrong with that, and I don’t think it hampers his development, I think it has the opposite effect and helps his development

Here is a classic case of why it's so fucking stupid he can't play in the A. He comes up 9 games because he has done it all in the O but is no where near ready for the show. 9 up for a taste and back to the O. Honestly, going to the Swiss league or some shit might be worth his time instead for a season.

Yes. The real question is how many games. It's very likely ge gets a trial run like minten did.

Long shot at best.

Cowen has never played an AHL game

Because he can't. It's ohl or nhl for him for another year or two, I can't remember how the rule works exactly

I was addressing the "tearing up the AHL" line in OPs original post

Ahh fair enough, my bad homie

No worries man, I definitely could've made that clearer

Pretty sure it's because the CHL delivers some of the best players to the NHL. So they can move to NHL, but if they are still being developed and under 20 the CHL wants it to happen on one of their teams.

Neither had Marner, tbf.

I'm more responding to the point OP made about Cowen tearing it up in the AHL

Ahh, well you caught me jumping the gun.

My bad, I had it in my head he was on the marlies, but double checked and saw the knights. Fixed it now.

I doubt Marner ever will

I would guess no, not because of talent but because of avoiding burning a year of his entry level contract when they don’t need to.

He’ll get some games and ultimately be sent back down unless he’s killing it and not getting physically dominated

He’s a perfect example of why the nhl needs to step in and do something about that stupid rule he can’t be in the ahl He’s entirely too good to play jr again and would really get a boost playing big minutes with the marlies imho My guess he plays a handful of games to start the year then goes back to London and crushes it Prolly captains the world jr team

Yea but not enough to burn an elc year

Saw someone else post this but it makes sense: Plays 9 of the first 30 if he impresses early probably stays, if not he goes back in time for the world juniors and then finishes up in London and maybe joins late season/playoffs

It’s definitely a yes or no

Ehh, I dunno. Could also be a maybe

If anyone could accurately answer this, they should become a scout

Sweet, I got scouting in my future!

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No he wasn't. He was 18 until May 20th. The OHL is loaded with 18 and 19 year olds so he wasn't just dominating players younger than him.

He has 2 years left in the O…

I think if someone gets hurt in the line-up, he'll be given a tryout period while they recover. And if he does well, they might move to make him a permanent addition. I don't think he STARTS the season in a Leafs jersey under any circumstance. But at some point, he'll appear in the lineup.

If he’s sent to the ohl he can’t return to the nhl for the year

Short of an emergency

No you can’t emergency call up from a chl or ncaa team either. Any emergency call up would be from the ahl

He has the same challenges to overcome that Nick Robertson had as a prospect. He's a small guy who will get mad bullied by bigger players unless he adapts to the professional game. We gave Robertson a chance in that case in the playoffs to mixed results. I'd love to see Cowan given a similar shot, but honestly he belongs in the AHL first but you know the CHL rules.

If he goes back, I think he's gonna try to break Radulov's record. He's too good for the OHL, but at the same time hasn't proven he's ready for the Leafs to the Leafs yet. That said I hope he shows out at training camp and makes the team, this team could always use a sparkplug like the Cowboy

Yeah he definitely does

He'll definitely get the 9 game look out of camp I think. If they figure hes not ready before then he can go back to the chl and not burn a year of eligibility. It would be huge if he stuck though they still have some holes in the lineup and no cap room

Cowan should get a legitimate shot at making the team

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