Just two weeks ago it looked as though Easton Cowan, the Toronto Maple Leafs top prospect, was going to snag onto one of the left wing roles on the club, but that may not be so clear anymore.
This past week the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nick Robertson finally came to a conclusion on their stalemate by signing a one-year contract and then a day later veteran Max Pacioretty signed a professional tryout with the team. While PTOs don't always mean deals, his agent Allan Walsh put a message on Twitter that he expects his client to sign a contract with the team prior to the start of the season.
Robertson and Pacioretty join not just Cowan, but also Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann battling for the top three spots on the left side of the forward group.
There are rumblings that William Nylander will once again start the season at center, but it is unclear if that is sliding John Tavares to the left side as well or dropping him down to the third line center role. For now, we pretend Tavares is not going to the left side and this is with the presumption that Max Domi skates on the right side.
Can Easton Cowan legitimately earn a spot on the club?
Knies not only has the highest ceiling of the group, he is already the most talented of the five, so barring an injury he will be in the top six. There is a chance Knies could end up on a very-good third line, but the top left wing job seems to be his to lose at this time.
When it comes to McMann, no player in the league seized the opportunity like he did last year. The Wainwright, Alberta native was in and out of the line-up scoring just two goals in his first 36 career NHL games averaging just above nine minutes a game, then a random Tuesday night in February happened this past season.
McMann was supposed to be a healthy scratch on February 13, but an illness to a teammate put him into the game and he responded with opening the scoring five minutes into the game, added a second goal midway through the third period and then the hattrick goal came into an empty net before the night was over.
The undrafted free agent would go on to score seven goals over a five game span that earned him a role in the top six for the remainder of his season finishing with 13 goals in his final 30 games before he would go down in Game 80 and miss the remainder of the season. His play earned him a two-year $1.35 million extension, so you can count on management wanting to see him in a top nine spot at least for the start of the season.
This leaves Robertson, Pacioretty and Cowan battling for the final spot in the top nine. With Walsh's comments that they believe that the former Montreal Canadiens captain will sign a contract you can expect him to have the final left wing spot. That said, Pacioretty might not be good enought to play in the NHL anymore, and he might find himself in a Jason Spezza type role on the fourth line if he is.
What could open up a spot for Robertson is if Pacioretty fails or Nylander does move to the middle, pushing Tavares down to the third line, McMann or Knies could potentially slide over to the right side in the top nine. This still leaves Cowan without a spot, and we haven't even brought up Calle Jarnkrok. He can still make the NHL if he forces the Leafs to make a trade, but otherwise it's not looking good.
That said, in the NHL players get injured and those who deserve to be on the team tend to end up on it. There may not be an obvious spot for Easton Cowan at the moment, but in the NHL there are no guarantees, outside of injuries. If he deseves a shot he's going to get one, it's just likely to come at another players's expense as there is no obvious fit for him right now.