Easton Cowan could be called up by Maple Leafs very soon

A terrible injury might mean good things for the Toronto Maple Leafs' top prospect.

Easton Cowan is listed as a healthy scratch for the AHL's Toronto Marlies during their matinee game on Wednesday and has sent Leafs fans into a big ball of speculation. The most important player on that team (no shade to everyone else in the AHL for Toronto) would not be held out for any other reason than for him to find his way back to the NHL roster.

It's pure speculation, but it doesn't take a genius to put these two facts together. Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews had to exit Tuesday night's game with an injury and then Cowan is a healthy scratch less than 24 hours later. An announcement could be coming shortly from the Leafs themselves.

And simply, Cowan deserves it. The 20-year-old winger might have only scored one goal and four points in the 10 games he played for the Maple Leafs this season, but he was a true playdriver while on the ice. While he was out there, the Leafs had a 51.1 percent share of the shot attempts and 51.52 percent of the expected goals share, according to Evolving-Hockey. Those are very solid numbers to build upon, and that doesn't even mention that Toronto outscored its opponents 6-5 with Cowan on the ice, as well.

If anyone can potentially give this team some energy in Matthews's absence, it could be the young rookie winger -- just something to get a spark going and for pucks to go in the Maple Leafs' favour. It might not be the perfect situation, since this might mean John Tavares and Nicolas Roy or Max Domi as your top-six centers with the captain missing, but there is at least some potential firepower coming up from the minors.

In two games with the Marlies, Cowan recorded one assist.