'They Were Just Themselves And They're Good Players': Maple Leafs React to Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan Making Team Canada's World Juniors Roster
Minten and Cowan will be the first draft picks from the Maple Leafs to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors since Ian Scott (2019) and both Mitch Marner and Travis Dermott (2016).
The Maple Leafs will be cheering on both Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan when they play for Team Canada at the 2024 World Juniors.
Cowan and Minten were unveiled as two of Canada's 22 players headed to Gothenburg, Sweden later this month. Both have never played in a World Junior Championship, meaning this will be their first taste of best-on-best action at that level.
"Phenomenal," said Maple Leafs captain John Tavares when asked about the two prospects making Team Canada.
"I remember going through the process and it's such an exciting experience, a tremendous honor, and obviously, we know what the tournament means in Canada and any kid growing up, and once you get to junior hockey, to have that opportunity to play at the World Juniors representing Canada is really, really special.
"So it's amazing for them two and [I'm] really excited for them. I can't wait to watch, and [it's] great for our club here in Toronto, seeing the bright future that those guys hold and how they're going to impact the organization in the near future."
Minten roomed with the Tavares family while he was in Toronto playing regular season games with the club. A smiling Minten told reporters in Oakville, Ontario at Team Canada's World Junior selection camp this week that Tavares' boys are "passionate" when it comes to their mini-stick games.
But what was the reaction from them when they found out that Minten had made Team Canada's World Junior roster?
"I think they're still absorbing it. We tried giving him a call last night and he didn't answer. I don't know if they were flying or what was going on, busy schedule. But I wanted to call with the boys to try to congratulate him, so we're still trying to connect with him, but I still think they're processing it," Tavares said.
"When I told them, I don't think it quite clicked in, but I know when they see them on TV playing, that they'll be pretty excited."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8gDxrM01YY[/embed]
Both Minten and Cowan were high picks in the NHL Draft for Toronto. But from Tavares' standpoint, what makes each of those players great for the Maple Leafs?
"I think hockey sense a lot for Fraser," Tavares said.
"I think [he] just reads the game really well, always just seems to be in the right spot and make the right play. It's not super flashy, but it's just really good hockey sense and just makes really good plays all over the ice that compound and lead to momentum, scoring opportunities, things like breaking up plays in the defensive zone, things like that.
"And for Easton, I think he's just got great instincts and he hounds the puck. He's just all over it all the time. He always just seems to be around [the puck], he just kind of pops out at you that you always notice him throughout a game, throughout a period, shift to shift, he just impacts, with the tenacity he plays with and I think he's got tremendous hockey sense and how he reads the game, and then is able to use that tenacity and ability to make plays and put pressure on the opponent."
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe obviously liked Cowan and Minten's game enough to keep them around longer during training camp (and for Minten, the early regular season). Keefe is one of the people who has a final say in how long each prospect remains with the team at the beginning of the year.
And when asked about both players on Thursday, Keefe said the two are both very confident in who they are.
"Just their competitive nature. They're both skilled guys, but both very competitive, confident, just going out to make a difference," Keefe said. "They have differences in their games for sure, but [they're] both confident in who they are. Just great, humble personalities... I really enjoyed my time with them.
"Obviously, Minten played regular season games for us here, but both guys had tremendous camps and I think earned lots of respect in around our room and our organization, and credit to them for the job that they did, and then also to then take that and not have it be something that, they go back to junior and then now they're a bit big for their bridges or anything like that.
"They just were themselves and they're good players, so it seems like they've picked up where they left off when they were here and we're excited about them."
Representing your country at the World Juniors is as big of an accomplishment as any at the junior level. But for those players, specifically, that make the team, it's vital for their development, too.
"For the players themselves, it's a tremendous opportunity. It's a great tournament. It's sort of the pinnacle of junior hockey, in terms of best-on-best, and it's the stakes, right? It's the stakes, it's the pressure, it's representing your country, it's coming together," Keefe said.
"It's all players that are, for the most part, top players on their teams. But now to come in and find a role and do different things than they're probably asked to do in most cases on their own teams, those are the kinds of things that I think really help top-end players to develop. And it's all a part of becoming a pro, is you don't, in most cases, step right in and get the same role that you had in junior hockey.
"You've got to work your way through things and a chance to play in an event like that, for those types of reasons, I think really helps the development of a player. But it's really just a great opportunity for them."
And if there's one message that Keefe would give both Minten and Cowan ahead of the tournament, what would it be?
"I sent them a note yesterday just congratulating them and wishing them well. But just go out and be yourselves and enjoy it and we'll certainly be behind, not just them, but the entire team, as the country will."
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