After another disappointing first-round loss in yet another Game 7 for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team’s front office has vowed to make changes to the roster they iced this past season. Rumours have swirled around star forward Mitch Marner and his future with the organization and with the Maple Leafs caught in a tangled web of cap complications, it only seems logical to move one of their big-money players with the team not getting it done come playoff time.
But that begs the question, how does the team fill the gap that will be left by one of said players? Equally, given the cap situation they’ve been in, how can they do it for cheap?
Maple Leafs Will Dip Into Their Prospect Pool Next Season
While they don’t want to move too fast on a prospect and put them in an unsuccessful situation, the Maple Leafs do have some talent in their lower ranks that have shown promise in their development and signs that they could be ready to make the jump.
Early in 2023-24, Fraser Minten got a crack at the NHL suiting up for four games of the regular season before going back to junior and having a solid season in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades and Kamloops Blazers.
Related: Four Young Maple Leafs Prospects Ready to Boost Lineup
It’s certainly likely that he’ll get a shot at earning a roster spot out of camp again in 2024-25 and while he’s a strong candidate take the next step, there’s a lot of talk surrounding the likelihood of London Knights’ forward Easton Cowan getting a legitimate shot at the Maple Leafs next season.
After all, he’s a cheap option on his entry-level contract and he’s a player that can secure the puck, play with an edge and dominate offensively — and in all facets of the game, for that matter. Simply put, the next step for him is the NHL.
Cowan’s Next Step Is the Maple Leafs, NHL
Let’s be real, he’s a player who absolutely dominated the OHL this season winning the MVP of the regular season and the MVP of the playoffs helping his Knights to an OHL Championship and a Memorial Cup berth.
At 18, he finished the season with 34 goals and 96 points in 54 games along with 64 penalty minutes. Sounds like a player that likes to get in the dirty areas, right? He could’ve easy cracked 100 points had it not been for the World Juniors where he represented Canada.
Come playoffs, his dominance didn’t stop. He tallied 10 goals and 34 points in 18 games and became just the third player in Knights history to win most valuable player of both the regular season and playoffs — alongside Corey Perry and Mitch Marner.
While some will argue that this revitalizes the debate of CHL/AHL eligibility and how it can help or not help with a players development, others will jump right on the wagon and agree that Cowan is a sure-thing when it comes to the Maple Leafs roster next season.
The hiring of Craig Berube shouldn’t deter the Maple Leafs from giving Cowan a chance out of camp either as Cowan plays a similar type of hockey to what Berube is looking for — extremely blue collar just with stronger offensive upside.
As Jason Bukala noted in talking with Kyper and Bourne, like Matthew Knies, Cowan tracks 200 feet. He plays a full end-to-end game. The fact that he has played in all situations this season for the Knights just adds to what he can provide in this lineup and Bukala sees him as someone who could potentially slot in next to John Tavares next season.
At this point it seems less like a question of if he plays for the Maple Leafs next season, rather a question of how many games he’ll get when he does suit up for the team in 2024-25.
