Prospect Info: 2023 1st Rd Selection - #28 OA (via BOS, WSH) - C, Easton Cowan [London Knights, OHL; [Height 5.11 -- Weight 185]

[Martin Skoula]

The "9 game" thing to me shouldn't actually matter.

All it does is allow his ELC to roll over to the following year.

Personally, I'd take the approach of doing everything you can to keep him in the NHL lineup at least 50% of the time until the WJCs.

After that, make a decision whether he should go and be a 1st line player back in London, or wherever he falls in the Leafs lineup.

His biggest improvements to be a useful NHLer are putting on 10 pounds and making marginal improvements to his skating, strength on the puck, and shooting mechanics/shot selection. I can’t see how 3 games a week against teenagers is a better place to do that than playing 1 out of every 3-4 games against men and spending the rest of the time living in the gym with professional trainers, nutritionists, and skills coaches, practicing against NHLers, and getting 10 minutes every few games to get a feel for what he can and can’t get away with against NHL D and goalies.

Burning the ELC year is also a godsend imo, if we had Marner and Nylander burn their ELCs at 18 we’d have saved millions on them when they hit RFA without a track record of high end production from day 1. I’d rather negotiate against a 21 year old with 15, 30, 50 points under his belt vs a 22 year old with 30, 50, 60.

 

[hullsy47]

I LOVE the kid, but he likely is NOT ready to play a full NHL season at a high level.

Those calling him a Marner replacement next year and writing him in on 2nd line - simply don’t know hockey.

Not saying replacing marner ,

he could replace jankrok or kamph

 

[Americanadian]

Burning the ELC year is also a godsend imo, if we had Marner and Nylander burn their ELCs at 18 we’d have saved millions on them when they hit RFA without a track record of high end production from day 1. I’d rather negotiate against a 21 year old with 15, 30, 50 points under his belt vs a 22 year old with 30, 50, 60.

I'm also of the belief that this is the right way to burn an ELC. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out with Knies.

 

[seanlinden]

His biggest improvements to be a useful NHLer are putting on 10 pounds and making marginal improvements to his skating, strength on the puck, and shooting mechanics/shot selection. I can’t see how 3 games a week against teenagers is a better place to do that than playing 1 out of every 3-4 games against men and spending the rest of the time living in the gym with professional trainers, nutritionists, and skills coaches, practicing against NHLers, and getting 10 minutes every few games to get a feel for what he can and can’t get away with against NHL D and goalies.

Burning the ELC year is also a godsend imo, if we had Marner and Nylander burn their ELCs at 18 we’d have saved millions on them when they hit RFA without a track record of high end production from day 1. I’d rather negotiate against a 21 year old with 15, 30, 50 points under his belt vs a 22 year old with 30, 50, 60.

This is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

The Leafs kind of did burn a year of ELC for Nylander. They could have negotiated with him and his 100 games NHL experience.

Get Cowan in there, burn the ELC even if he only plays 30 games... he'll have less of a track record with which to negotiate, and a better opportunity to "bet on him".

That being said, I don't think going back to London after the WJCs should be out of the question. You don't want his confidence to get too worn down. If he's bouncing in and out of the lineup, playing not a ton of minutes, it wouldn't neccessarily hurt.

 

[Fogelhund]

""

 

[JT AM da real deal]

What do you see the Leafs doing with him next year?

That is a great question.. wish i had da answer .. i think it depends on what moves if any they make this summer .. but i would let him play on junior team at worlds and then maybe if possible finish season with Marlies if possible .. he looks a little fragile still to me but i have seen maybe 5 games of his games this year and all on TV

 

[ACC1224]

That is a great question.. wish i had da answer .. i think it depends on what moves if any they make this summer .. but i would let him play on junior team at worlds and then maybe if possible finish season with Marlies if possible .. he looks a little fragile still to me but i have seen maybe 5 games of his games this year and all on TV

I don't believe Marlies is an option, it's either the Leafs or London.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I don't believe Marlies is an option, it's either the Leafs or London.

Then back to London is my pick .. he is not strong enough on his skates yet .. needs to fill out some more

 

[Martin Skoula]

This is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

The Leafs kind of did burn a year of ELC for Nylander. They could have negotiated with him and his 100 games NHL experience.

Get Cowan in there, burn the ELC even if he only plays 30 games... he'll have less of a track record with which to negotiate, and a better opportunity to "bet on him".

That being said, I don't think going back to London after the WJCs should be out of the question. You don't want his confidence to get too worn down. If he's bouncing in and out of the lineup, playing not a ton of minutes, it wouldn't neccessarily hurt.

Re: Cowan I think the main choice to make is whether we’re trying to develop an elite specialist role player that can be ready sooner and cost less, something like a Hagel + elite short handed threat, or if they want to take their time and see if he can turn into a top 6C/guy you build a line around.

Personally the latter feels like hedging your bets and thinking towards a post-Matthews rebuild/retool. I’d be on the side of turning Cowan/Knies/Greb into cost controlled high end wingers for our current core that have well defined roles on the PP/PK so we don’t have to keep overpaying late prime UFAs with a lot of miles on them to play games that require healthy young energy to execute at a high level. There’s always the chance that your 60 point special teams specialist finds that line driver next gear like Marchand anyway, not like putting them in on-the-job apprenticeships cuts off the high end potential anyway.

 

[Fogelhund]

""

 

[djdev]

i know its never going to happen, but i wish people would stop trying to offer up unqualified opinions as irrefutable facts on what a player needs to work on or whether or not the are ready to play in the NHL and just enjoy the player lol. if anyone here was actually in a position to properly judge these things they wouldnt be posting here lol.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

People have the same argument every year because they want to see the new shiny toy sooner.

Send him back. Playing for the Hunters will not hurt him. He will gradually put on weight and strength and be more effective when he gets here (vs. rushing him next season).

 

[djdev]

People have the same argument every year because they want to see the new shiny toy sooner.

Send him back. Playing for the Hunters will not hurt him. He will gradually put on weight and strength and be more effective when he gets here (vs. rushing him next season).

lol perfect post immediately after mine to illustrate my point, thanks for that!

 

[1specter]

Happy to keep him up if he has a good camp and the staff feels he can handle it. If he goes back down I hope they put him at C full time.

 

[hotpaws]

Happy to keep him up if he has a good camp and the staff feels he can handle it. If he goes back down I hope they put him at C full time.

this is pretty much sums it up , if he has a good enough camp he'll probably get some regular season games and then the team will evaluate if his play is good enough against NHLers to keep him for the rest of the season

 

[RunItBackAgain]

lol perfect post immediately after mine to illustrate my point, thanks for that!

Your post is nonsense. People come here to read other peoples opinions. This thread might not be very insightful but many are, especially in the prospect sub forum. Why are you here? So we can talk about the blue jays or what Color Morgan Rielly is painting his house?

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Ideally Cowan plays his 9 games for the Leafs next year, then goes to the Marlies on a "conditioning stint" (5 games allowed if I remember right), goes to and Captains Canada at the WJC, then finishes the year in London.

I don't think he's ready for full time NHL duty, but the above is a pretty good compromise.

 

[William Hylander]

He should just spend a year in Switzerland, play with some grown men. Then management can decide if hes ready to step in to the NHL or AHL in 25/26.

 

[ULF_55]

Strength, not size would be the issue.

Smaller NHLers than he is.

 

[djdev]

Your post is nonsense. People come here to read other peoples opinions. This thread might not be very insightful but many are, especially in the prospect sub forum. Why are you here? So we can talk about the blue jays or what Color Morgan Rielly is painting his house?

dafuq are u on about? where did i say i had any sort of issue with opinions about players? stating opinions as facts about what players is will or wont be is silly though, and isnt insightful at all.
statements like "player a need to put on 10 pounds before being ready" or "i saw player b take a few big hits in a game so hes clearly not ready" are nonsense.

 

[therealkoho]

5'11" and 180ish isn't light nor slight. He got lit up in the final and popped right back up after making a pass that resulted in a goal btw and rejoined the play

 

[ULF_55]

5'11" and 180ish isn't light nor slight. He got lit up in the final and popped right back up after making a pass that resulted in a goal btw and rejoined the play

Maybe people are thinking he's Robertson?

 

[RunItBackAgain]

dafuq are u on about? where did i say i had any sort of issue with opinions about players? stating opinions as facts about what players is will or wont be is silly though, and isnt insightful at all.
statements like "player a need to put on 10 pounds before being ready" or "i saw player b take a few big hits in a game so hes clearly not ready" are nonsense.

How is me saying he took a few big hits not information people should hear? I also didn’t follow that up by saying he isn’t ready, I said if an NHLer laid those types of hits he wouldn’t have gotten up. I also then said it was ballsy for him to get up and score a huge goal for his team.

Many many many people don’t have the chance to watch a CHL game especially at the same time as the NHL playoffs are on. That’s what I saw. This is a discussion board. So wtf are you on about?

 

[djdev]

How is me saying he took a few big hits not information people should hear? I also didn’t follow that up by saying he isn’t ready, I said if an NHLer laid those types of hits he wouldn’t have gotten up. I also then said it was ballsy for him to get up and score a huge goal for his team.

Many many many people don’t have the chance to watch a CHL game especially at the same time as the NHL playoffs are on. That’s what I saw. This is a discussion board. So wtf are you on about?

they were examples, i wasnt quoting you or a i would have quoted you...i actually had 0 issue with what u said.

 

[LeafEgo]

His biggest improvements to be a useful NHLer are putting on 10 pounds and making marginal improvements to his skating, strength on the puck, and shooting mechanics/shot selection. I can’t see how 3 games a week against teenagers is a better place to do that than playing 1 out of every 3-4 games against men and spending the rest of the time living in the gym with professional trainers, nutritionists, and skills coaches, practicing against NHLers, and getting 10 minutes every few games to get a feel for what he can and can’t get away with against NHL D and goalies.

Burning the ELC year is also a godsend imo, if we had Marner and Nylander burn their ELCs at 18 we’d have saved millions on them when they hit RFA without a track record of high end production from day 1. I’d rather negotiate against a 21 year old with 15, 30, 50 points under his belt vs a 22 year old with 30, 50, 60.

I like the thinking behind this, but for the Leafs specifically, have to consider how important that that slide would be. If Matty is our peak window, with a slide we would have him at 900k throughout, and in that fourth and final year to go guns blazing.