Toronto Maple Leafs Easton Cowan can win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have their top prospect in the lineup when the season opens in October.

The reason I know that is because I don't believe for a second that the entire Toronto Maple Leafs organization is incompetent, and only complete dereliction of duty will see Eason Cowan anywhere but the NHL this season.

That is because he won a Championship in the OHL, the league MVP and the Playoff MVP while setting the record for longest point streak. Only the fact that he missed 14 regular season games prevented him from winning the scoring title, but that just makes winning the MVP more impressive. He also led the OHL playoffs in scoring. (ohl.com).

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from sending him back to junior. He cannot play in the AHL because of the age limit, and therefore, he has to play on the Leafs.

Also, the Leafs are desperate for secondary scoring, and for a star player to emerge while on an entry-level deal. The stars have aligned and it would be incredibly stupid if he's not on the team when camp breaks.

Barring an injury or an unexpectedly bad training camp performance, Easton Cowan is going to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs. And that means he's going to have a chance to win the Calder.

Toronto Maple Leafs Easton Cowan can win the Calder Trophy

Macklin Celebrini is the top draft pick, but he's no Connor Bedard. He's probably more of a Nico Hischier, and isn't a lock to win the Calder. The rest of the field is wide open, so Cowan has a great chance.

He's going to get power-play time and he's going to see the ice with some of the best players in the world. If the Leafs are smart - and that's a big IF - they would stretch their lineup by converting Mitch Marner to centre, and having John Tavares as the team's 3C.

With Tavares at centre, and Cowan on the wing - likely with Bobby McMann or Calle Jarnkrok - the Leafs would have a dangerous third line, but also, one they could find some very plumb minutes for.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on two different lines present all sorts of problems for other teams to defend. If the Leafs can follow that up with another line that can also score, they will be extremely dangerous.

Last year, the Leafs had an issue because team's didn't have to worry all that much about the Tavares/Nylander line. They were OK, but they weren't dominant by any stretch of the imagination *(Nylander did most of his damage on the power-play).

Since Keefe had to shelter the 3rd line with Domi on it in the extreme, and since teams didn't care about the Tavares Line, the Leafs maybe didn't get the kinds of matchups their lineup should be able to produce. That all changed when Max Domi was moved to the first line.

Being able to have Marner on the second line changes everything and allows the Leafs to get their third line sheltered without having to work hard to do it. Teams will just be forced to throw their best players at the top two lines.

With Marner and Matthews on different lines, there are essentially two first lines, and two lines teams have to fear, which means the third line gets tons of relatively easy minutes. When you have players like Cowan and Tavares to take advantage of that, good things can happen.

And that is why I predict that Easton Cowan is going to win the rookie of the year award and become the Leafs second Calder winner in the last decade.