Easton Cowan made his NHL debut on Monday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed in the visiting Detroit Red Wings and the rookie did not look out of place. The 20-year-old winger was continuingly involved in the play and that deserved some big words coming from his star teammates.
To start the game, Cowan was placed in an incredibly advantageous position. He was starting on the Leafs' top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies. There might not be any better start to an NHL career than getting to play with those forwards as your linemates.
The game ended in a 5-2 loss to the Atlantic Division rivals, but none of that can be placed on Cowan. The young forward finished the game with one shot on goal, four shot attempts, two high-danger scoring chances, and somewhat unexpectedly, three hits. Cowan did all that in 14:04 time-on-ice, but it went beyond that in his minutes.
While Cowan was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Leafs had a dominating 19-6 advantage in shot attempts and 11-1 advantage in shots on goal. It was one-way hockey with the rookie out there. And in the over 10 minutes he spent alongside Matthews and Knies, he played the part and that deserved some praise from his linemates.
"I thought he was great," Matthews said. "He just carries himself with such a good confidence in himself and in the way that he can play and compete. Easy guy to play with. He made smart plays with the puck. When plays were to be made, he made him. And when the simple play was there to just get the puck deep or whatnot, he made it."
"He played phenomenal," Knies said. "He's gonna be a heck of a player. I'm excited to keep playing with him. That pass to Matty for that breakaway, that's pretty elite. And I think he did a tremendous job in every zone."
That's exactly what you need to hear. Especially when it comes to Cowan, who has had a somewhat stop-and-start beginning to his season after being a healthy scratch for the Leafs' first two games and not being sent down to the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
If he's good enough to be in the NHL, he should be in the NHL, and he certainly showed tremendous qualities of a full-time regular. Now, he just needs to get on the score sheet to really pop.