The biggest wild card during Toronto Maple Leafs training camp and the main decision that the front office and coaching staff will have to make, has to be whether or not top prospect Easton Cowan makes the final roster. But before that, he's getting some high praise from very good players.
The Memorial Cup MVP with the London Knights last season, Cowan is striving to impress the right people for the next couple of weeks. While he has been getting some solid words of public encouragement from his coach and general manager, getting acknowledgement from his potential future teammates feels like a big deal.
On Saturday, some of the best players on the Leafs and veterans with decades of experience, came forward to give their thoughts on Cowan during their media availabilities.
“He looks bigger, and I think for him there’s no doubting what he’s capable of,” Morgan Rielly said of the top prospect. “He’s put that on display, and just making the jump is challenging, no matter who you are. As his teammates, we want to support him and help everyone as we get going here.”
Rielly entered the league just one season after he was drafted and was 19 years old trying to figure out how to be an NHL defenseman. It's a little bit different than being a winger who could end up just being a depth forward for the team right now, at 20 years old.
“He just seems a lot more comfortable in what every day’s gonna bring so far,” John Tavares said about Cowan. “Has a much better understanding of just what training camp’s all about, playing at the NHL level, and what the standard is, the expectations are. Not trying to do too much, but having just naturally let his talent and his skillset come out just through his work ethic.”
That gives us a big "yup". We're far from surprised that Tavares is giving some thoughtful words of encouragement.
Cowan will need to really ace the rest of training camp and produce in the upcoming preseason games if he is to have any chance of making the team. But, he is at least on a regular NHL line for the time being.
Cowan paired with a solid duo
Right now at training camp, Cowan has been stapled to Dakota Joshua as his other winger -- which makes perfect sense. Joshua provides all the physicality and possession-heavy, north-south game that Cowan lacks and given that we all assume the former Canucks winger is going to be on the third line, that is exactly where Cowan is slotted to go, if he were to make this team.
At centre, it was another newcomer in Nicolas Roy to complete the trio -- although it was Mason Shaw in the middle on Saturday but just because Roy is out with a minor injury.
If we think of a world where Cowan starts his season in the NHL instead of on the AHL's Toronto Marlies to start his professional career, then suddenly the Maple Leafs have a third line entirely made up of players that they didn't have on their roster a few months ago. All new players. All solid contributors with long-term goals in Toronto.
It could be a good time, but maybe we just hold onto this idea for a few months and let Cowan cook down at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.