The Calder Cup Playoffs are heating up, and so is Easton Cowan, who has two goals and four assists in six games, making him the prospect to watch so far. Plus, Cleveland is moving on, and there are plenty of great battles right now.
Easton Cowan is having a defining moment in the Calder Cup Playoffs and his young hockey career. His two goals and four assists in six games, including four points in two games against the Laval Rocket have the Toronto Marlies one win away from the North Division Final. He’s leading the way for a series upset against a Rocket team that was the best in the division all season.
It goes without saying that the 20-year-old forward is one of the top prospects for the Toronto Maple Leafs. His skill and playmaking ability make him a bright spot and a potential building block for a team that lacks them. The question is how good Cowan is and how good he can become.
Cowan as an X-Factor For Marlies & Maple Leafs
It’s odd seeing him in a Marlies jersey, not because of his age but because of where he spent most of his rookie season. Cowan only played four games with the Marlies and 66 with the Maple Leafs, essentially making him an NHLer and not a developing prospect. Cowan delivered for the Maple Leafs, with 11 goals and 18 assists, which is respectable for a rookie season.
His play in the playoffs, where he’s taken over the past two games to lead the Marlies to consecutive wins, shows that the pressure of a big stage isn’t too big for him. He’s a player who steps up and comes up in the clutch in the playoffs. It’s what happened when he was with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League, and it’s happening with the Marlies as well.
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The unknown is Cowan’s ceiling. At 20, he has plenty of room to improve and become a complete player. The Maple Leafs are hoping he becomes the next generation star, the player who gives an aging team with a declining core a much-needed boost.
Cleveland Wins a Mini-Calder Final & Won’t be the Only Ones
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, many labeled the Dallas Stars against the Minnesota Wild as a “Mini Cup Final” or a series that wasn’t really a First Round matchup. The same was said about the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning, which went the distance. The Cleveland Monsters and Syracuse Crunch had their equivalent of a “Mini Calder Cup Final” as their series was a war.
The Crunch and Monsters went to overtime in Game Three and triple overtime in Game Four. The games could have gone either way but the Monsters took both games in Upstate New York to take the series.
Both teams could have won the Calder Cup, and the Crunch, while suffering an early playoff exit, can’t feel too down after this defeat. The Monsters, however, survive a tough series and keep battling, as they have all season. They’ve been one of the best teams in the American Hockey League in the second half of the season and are a well-coached team. It’s no surprise the Columbus Blue Jackets are eyeing Trent Vogelhuber for an assistant role for their NHL staff, and the 37-year-old head coach might be leading an NHL bench in no time.
The Cleveland-Syracuse series wasn’t the only one that was a war, either. The Chicago Wolves and Texas Stars are in the middle of a five-game series that is going the distance, thanks to a Game Four overtime win by the Stars. The Coachella Valley Firebirds and Ontario Reign split their first two games and look poised for a long series where the winner can easily go on a Calder Cup run.
It’s these matchups that make the Calder Cup Playoffs incredible. These teams face each other a lot during the regular season and then meet up in the playoffs for some battles. The rivalries are in their peak form in these five-game sets. It’s what makes this round and the following round special.
Quick Hits
The Manitoba Moose goaltender, Domenic DiVincentiis, started the playoffs on fire. The 22-year-old prospect for the Winnipeg Jets looked a lot like Connor Hellebuyck during the Olympics, stopping 89 of the 91 shots he faced in the playoffs. It allowed the Moose to win their series against the Milwaukee Admirals and upset the Grand Rapids Griffins in Game One.
The light’s out performances couldn’t last forever. DiVincentiis made 32 saves in Game Two but allowed two goals in a Game Two defeat against the Griffins.
Speaking of dominant goaltending, the Colorado Eagles shut out the Henderson Silver Knights in Game One with a 1-0 win, featuring an 18-save shutout by Trent Miner. It’s a statement from the Eagles, considering the Silver Knights averaged 3.65 goals per game in the regular season and 4.3 goals per game in their previous 10 games.
The Providence Bruins finished the season with 110 points and the best record in the AHL. The Springfield Thunderbirds had 72 points, which was tied for 22nd in the league. The Thunderbirds are giving the Bruins all they can handle, splitting the first two games and fighting until the end in a 2-1 defeat in Game Two.
The Hartford Wolf Pack, who had the worst record in the AHL, fired their head coach, Grant Potulny, this week. Considering all the issues the New York Rangers affiliate had this season, it’s not the only change coming for this team. The Wolf Pack are a reflection of an organizational failure, and someone must come in and clean things up.
Potulny was a great hockey mind who was made to coach at the college level. He wasn’t made to coach in the AHL, and it showed. The playoffs, however, are putting the brilliant coaching in this league on full display. Many of these coaches and the GMs who built these teams are poised for NHL jobs, and there’s a backlog of great candidates just waiting for their opportunity at the next level.
This time of the year is when great coaching and adjustments stand out. The Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins are in the middle of a chess match between Derek King and Kirk MacDonald. The first game favored the Penguins' speed, while the next game helped the Bears' physicality. It sets up for a great series that heads to Chocolate Town.