Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan can put up points by the bushel, and he's expected to do so in Ottawa. But a sturdy two-way game will be his eventual ticket to the NHL.
Nick Suzuki and Easton CowanThe earliest he ever got the party started was 1:23 into the first period with an assist in Game 29. The latest he ever got the job done was on a breakaway goal with 21 seconds left in overtime in Game 21. Whew, that was close. So was the empty-netter with 22 ticks on the clock remaining in Game 49.
But for a whole whack of consecutive regular-season games dating back to last season in the OHL – 56 and counting – all Easton Cowan did was score and score and score some more.
So, we’ve established he’s really good at that. The London Knights star and top prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs was full marks for his selection as most valuable player in the OHL regular season and the playoffs in 2023-24. With Cowan’s skill level and elite deception, scoring points is the easy part.
“That’s the goal,” said Cowan of his attempts to score in every game until the end of time. “Obviously, I play a lot, so I feel like if I can produce, it gives the team a better chance to win.”
Extremely difficult to argue with that logic. But if Cowan wants to make an impact in the NHL, he’ll have to work on the not-so-fun stuff, the parts of the game that have nothing to do with points. You know when hockey people talk about guys who “play the game the right way?”
That’s what people such as Leafs assistant GM Hayley Wickenheiser want to see more of from Cowan.
“It’s a 200-foot game,” Wickenheiser said. “It’s making the right decisions. Tracking back hard on pucks. Every time he’s on the ice, we want to see him impacting the game, not just with goals and assists, but in playing the game the right way.”
That’s all well and good, but Team Canada will be looking for Cowan to play the game the right way – because Canada – and put up some boffo numbers at the 2025 World Junior Championship.
Canadian brass certainly expect more robust numbers than the one goal and two points Cowan had in five games as an 18-year-old at last year’s tourney. For those who need a refresher, Canada gave up a goal with 11 seconds left in the quarterfinal in a 3-2 loss to Czechia, which is about as disastrous as it gets for Canada.
Neither Cowan nor Team Canada distinguished themselves with their performances at the event.
“He didn’t have a great tournament last year,” said Wickenheiser matter-of-factly. “This is an opportunity for him to go in and dominate and establish himself as a dominant player in that age group.”
There is nothing to suggest Cowan won’t do everything it takes to become an impact player in the NHL. A segment of the hockey world believes he has nothing left to prove at the OHL level and that he might be too good for junior hockey.
“No, I am not,” Cowan countered. “Not at all.”
Easton CowanBut the Maple Leafs sent him back to junior this season with a couple of very important boxes to check off, and one of the most prominent ones was making an impact at the WJC.
“I’m really dialling it in to start the year,” Cowan said. “I want to win a gold medal, like every guy does. And Canada has a ton of great players in that ’06 and ’05 age group, so I’m really excited. We were 11 seconds away from getting it to overtime, but I’m trying to take the positives from it.”
A top-six role for Cowan is a given. A first-line and absolutely pivotal role is a strong possibility. And Cowan has earned the responsibility that faces him.
Last year, he struggled to make the team and didn’t play a prominent role in Canada’s tournament, but the way he has dominated at the junior level since then should give him a huge amount of confidence entering this year’s tournament.
The scoring streak aside, he’s been one of the best – if not the best – players in junior hockey in 2024. And one of the players challenging him for that mantle is Brayden Yager, who could very well end up being Cowan’s center on Canada’s top line.
Given the way Cowan dominated last season, there was an expectation – at least from the Toronto fan base – he would push for a spot on the Leafs’ opening-night roster and perhaps have up to a nine-game trial before being sent back to junior. To do that as a prospect, you have to make the decision exceedingly difficult for the team, and Cowan didn’t do enough. After being drafted 28th overall in 2023, he entered his first training camp as an 18-year-old with neither pressure nor expectations. But those elements were present at camp in 2024. And, as has been the case with so many young players in such situations in the past, the results were middling.
Some of that was mental, but a lot of it still came down to the physical. When Cowan was drafted by the Knights and spent much of his first season playing Jr. B, he was 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds. In the intervening years, he’s grown to six-foot and 185 pounds – still diminutive by NHL standards. When he says he wants to become “more of that power forward,” it sounds a little strange because he’ll never be Brady Tkachuk, but there’s every reason to believe he can add more of a power dimension to his game. He went a long way toward that goal by working out all summer in Toronto, but when it came to training camp and the pre-season, he still struggled playing big-boy hockey.
“The way he plays the game is with a lot of pace and intensity, and he hounds the puck,” Wickenheiser said. “At the NHL level, to do those things, you have to have power and some size and strength. Because of the way he wants to play the game, he’s not going to be effective on the outside hanging out. He’s got to get to the middle of the ice, and he’s not afraid. He’s definitely not afraid to get engaged in battles.”
So, it turns out there are some things for Cowan to do this year in junior. The Knights are always a threat for an OHL title, which would mean a return to the Memorial Cup with the express intention of winning it this time. Cowan has learned to deal with late-game crushing heartbreak. Along with Team Canada surrendering the late goal in the quarterfinal of the 2024 WJC, Cowan’s Knights lost in the Memorial Cup final to host Saginaw on a goal that came with just 22 seconds left after London had clawed back from a 3-0 deficit.
The way Cowan sees it, it’s time to reverse some fortunes. And that starts when the puck drops for Canada’s first game on the day after Christmas. “I am so stoked for this,” Cowan said. “I want to win it all.”
This article appeared in the World Junior Championship issue of The Hockey News.
In this edition, we feature wall-to-wall coverage of the 2025 World Junior Championship, complete with previews of all 10 teams plus some of the most prominent players involved. Also in this issue, we shine the spotlight on San Jose's Tyler Toffoli, Philadelphia's Travis Konecny and a team from Haida Gwaii that really goes the extra mile.
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