The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Thursday afternoon that they had signed prospect Easton Cowan to an Entry Level Contract (ELC).
Cowan was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs this past draft 28th overall in the first round and was the pick the team acquired in the deal for Rasmus Sandin.
The contract comes with the standard $95,000 signing bonus and will carry a cap hit of $950,000 when eventually suits up for the Maple Leafs. (capfriendly.com).
Due to the partnership that the National Hockey League has with the Canadian Hockey League, if Cowan is unable to crack the Toronto Maple Leafs roster he must be sent back to the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Thus, he will not be suiting up for the Toronto Marlies this season, unless the Knights have a short playoff appearance this upcoming Spring.
Part of the ELC means that the contract will slide forward meaning each year he remains in the OHL the contract will get pushed ahead and not get a season burned off.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Top Prospect to Entry Level Contract
Cowan will likely spend the next two seasons in the OHL and then join the Toronto Marlies full time during the 2025-26 season. Once with the Marlies, Cowan will earn an annual salary of $82,500.
When the Maple Leafs selected Cowan it came as a bit of a surprise to most fans as he was slated to be a late second round pick by most mock drafts. The Leafs faced some criticism for taking a player they probably could have traded down and still picked.
Another way to look at it though is that the Leafs are so high on him they didn’t want to risk it. He is local, and maybe they know something other teams don’t.
Cowan joined Nazem Kadri, Mitch Marner and Darryl Sittler as former London Knight alumni selected in the first round by the Maple Leafs. They will be incredibly happy if he ends up half as good as any of those guys.
He is known as a hound on the puck and stated that he models his game after Kadri. The 5’10” forward had an impressive post season collecting more than a point per game as he recorded 21 points in 20 games after collecting 53-points in 68 regular season games.
If he can bring a similar style of game to Kadri or even Darcy Tucker, Cowan will become a fan favourite very quickly in Toronto.