Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Impacting CHL Playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs still have three of their prospects playing their way through the CHL playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs new top prospect Easton Cowan leading his London Knights through the Ontario Hockey League, while Fraser Minten and Brandon Lisowsky are in a hard fault battle in the Western Hockey League with the Saskatoon Blades.

If the three prospects can push their teams through each of their respective leagues, Toronto Maple Leafs fans will be able to watch them at the Memorial Cup at the end of May.

Each of the three prospects not just helped their teams get through the first two rounds of their playoffs, but they are being impactful players in their Conference Finals.

Easton Cowan Leads London Knights to Commanding 3-1 Series Lead

Cowan and the London Knights are currently in the Western Conference Finals in the OHL against the Saginaw Spirit who happen to be hosting this year's Memorial Cup.

The Knights jumped out to an early 2-0 series lead where Cowan collected four points and was a +2 through two games after back-to-back 3-1 victories. After a forgettable third match that saw the Spirit take the game 6-2 that left Cowan without a point and an embarrassing -4 on the night, he, along with his teammates rebounded in the fourth game.

The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the game which was highlighted by Cowan sending Sam O'Reilly on a partial breakaway for the second goal.

The Maple Leafs 2023 first round pick would put the dagger into the Spirit with just over four minutes to play in the game when the feisty winger would put his team up by two with his second goal of the series and his fourth of the playoffs to put the game away. The Knights would add a pair of empty net goals, with the Maple Leafs prospect finishing the night +5.

London will look to put the series away back at home on Friday and if they can do so will head to the OHL Championship against the winner of the Oshawa General and North Bay Battalion. Cowan currently has six points in the series.

A Pair of Prospects Earning Experience in WHL Conference Finals

While the London Knights have a stranglehold in their conference finals, Minten and Lisowsky are in a tighter battle in the their playoff series with the Blades against the Moose Jaw Warriors which has seen three of the first four games ended in overtime.

The Blades gave up home-ice advantage after Game 1 when Pittsburgh Penguins 2023-14th overall selection Brayden Yager was able to score midway through overtime to give the Warriors the victory in Game 1. Despite losing the game, both Maple Leafs prospects finished the game +2 with Lisowsky recording an assist.

In Game 2 of the series, Minten earned first star of the game after the contest headed to overtime in consecutive games and the World Junior Captain buried the winner. Minten was able to capitalize on his sixth shot of the night after receiving a pass from undrafted Lukas Hansen on a two on one and tied the series at a game a piece.

After dropping Game 3 by a score of 3-1, it would be Lisowsky's turn for the heroics in Game 4. The 2022 seventh round selection opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game after he tapped in a rebound from a Minten shot. Just like the first two games of the series this game headed to overtime where Lisowsky caused a turnover at the Moose Jaw blueline which led to Anaheim Ducks prospect Yegor Sidorov being all alone in front of the net for the winner.

The Blades have now regained home-ice advantage and are now in a best of three series with Game 5 also going Friday night. Through the first four games, Minten has collected a goal and an assist with a plus/minus rating of +6 while Lisowsky has two goals and three assists with a +4 rating.