Maple Leafs’ Easton Cowan has a jump in his step and is making a leap
(Toronto, ON) -- It was the first day of training camp, and coach Jim Hiller was already impressed. Easton Cowan had quickly caught his eye.
“He was a puck hound,” Hiller said that day in mid-September. “He was everywhere, I thought.”
The coaching staff had talked to Cowan about that, about hounding the puck with ferocity.
“He’s got tremendous skill, but where he can help us best is be a puck hound and then use that skill,” Hiller said.
It sure looks as if the 21-year-old has taken that advice to heart. It’s been only two games, but Cowan has popped in a big way as the young, tenacious puck hound on a third line that’s arguably been the Toronto Maple Leafs’ most effective.
He was instrumental Wednesday night in the team’s first win of the season, playing a major role on both goals in the 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders.
It was Cowan, in the first period, who lugged the puck out from the corner of the offensive zone, drew in three Islanders and dished to Nick Paul, who found Colton Sissons streaking to the net for goal No. 1.
Not long after, Cowan deposited a rebound on a power play for his first goal of the season, the game-winning goal.
It’s almost surprising he ended up with only 13 minutes of ice time. His impact felt larger.
Promoted to the second line in the season opener Tuesday night, Cowan created a third-period goal for William Nylander and replaced Gavin McKenna when the Leafs were hunting for a late goal with their net empty.
Cowan’s 3 points through two games lead the team.
The Leafs have won almost 70 percent of the expected goals in Cowan’s five-on-five minutes. That doesn’t feel misleading considering the way he has chased the puck doggedly all over the ice.
“What I like most of all is he’s really determined,” Hiller said after Wednesday’s win. “He’s really taking this seriously at a really young age.”
“Mentally, he really wants it,” the coach went on. “It’s easy to say. Then there’s all these things that you have to do. And when I see getting to the rink early and stretching and eating and going to the gym, that tells me he’s on the right path.”
Easton Cowan has a team-high 3 points through two games.
Hiller sees the new-look and newly vital third line of Cowan, Paul and Sissons as one that “should be able to play against the other team’s best players, but also push them offensively because those three players, they can score goals. And I think Easton really can be the straw that stirs the drink from an offensive perspective.”
Cowan feels vital for that reason. He might be the only member of the current bottom six, aside from Paul, with the potential to contribute offence regularly.
“He’s gonna be a phenomenal player. He is a phenomenal player,” Paul said.
Hiller seems to trust the unit immensely already, even testing the players at times Wednesday against the Islanders’ top unit.
The line’s effective two-way play is probably the only thing that’s keeping the Leafs coach from promoting Cowan back onto a second line, with Nylander and John Tavares, that’s struggled mightily.
Hiller might not be able to resist a change for much longer. Cowan is almost demanding a spot somewhere in the top six with his pugnacious play.
From that first day of camp, he clearly had gained a fan in Hiller. The coach has even handed Cowan first-time penalty-killing duties in the NHL this fall, another place puck hounding has come in handy for a unit that’s yet to allow a goal.
Cowan showed glimpses of this ability as a rookie last season. There was a lot going on, of course, and at times, it felt as if he suffered from it.
Last fall, for instance, Cowan looked poised to join a line with Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz at the end of training camp only for then-Leafs coach Craig Berube to blow up his lineup when Laughton broke his foot and suddenly scratch Cowan in the first two games of the season.
Cowan ended up outside the lineup once again — for veteran Calle Järnkrok — when the Leafs went into the Olympic break and again when they came out of it.
He still ended up with 29 points in 66 games and showed flashes of something interesting, especially in those rare instances he ended up playing alongside the Leafs’ top players — Auston Matthews, Nylander and Tavares. He also sidled up to the veterans who sat next to him in the dressing room, Laughton and Max Domi, and learned as much as he could about the ways and methods of life in the NHL.
Then he rolled with the Toronto Marlies all the way to the Calder Cup.
“It did a lot,” Cowan said. “Any time you’re playing pro in the playoffs, it helps a lot. A lot of confidence heading into this year.”
After watching Cowan during the informal captain’s skates heading into camp this fall, Bo Groulx said he told his friends almost immediately Cowan was primed for a big step this season.
“He was absolutely flying,” Groulx said.
An emphasis on power skating in the offseason had paid dividends. “He was probably our best player tonight,” Groulx said after the win over the Islanders.
Cowan is getting to where he needs to be much quicker than last season.
“It’s his explosion,” Groulx said. “His first couple steps have been so fast.”
After Cowan’s strong outing against the Islanders, Hiller was asked whether the young winger reminded him of anyone he had coached over the years. The coach said no, but there were players in the league whom he could “trend towards” one day. He wouldn’t say who, though.
“I don’t know where he’s gonna go,” Hiller said. “(But) he’s an exciting young player.”
— Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Jonas Siegel | Staff Writer, Maple Leafs
Joshua Kloke | Staff Writer, Toronto
