An injury to Steven Lorentz has opened the door wide open for Easton Cowan to make his NHL debut on Monday afternoon when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Detroit Red Wings.
The Maple Leafs resumed practice on Saturday following a 6-3 loss to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Steven Lorentz missed the session after sustaining an upper-body injury. The player appeared to be caught up high by Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot in the first period and left the game.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said there was no update on the severity of Lorentz' injury other than he would not play on Monday.
Given both Lorentz out and some of the underpeformance on Saturday, Berube shuffled up his lines and have Cowan the top assignment on the top line with Matthew Knies and Auston Matthes.
Here are the new line combinations observed at practice:
- First Line: Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews and Easton Cowan.
- Second Line: Matias Maccelli (who moved down), John Tavares, William Nylander.
- Third Line: Nick Robertson, Max Domi, and Bobby McMann, who moved up to skate with them.
- Fourth Line: Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy and Calle Jarnkrok.
Joshua and Roy are reunited; the two skated on a line together for most of camp until a lower-body injury to Scott Laughton changed things.
There's been a lot of anticipation about when Cowan, Toronto's first-round pick (28th overall) in 2023, will make his NHL debut. That time has finally come.
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