C Easton Cowan - London Knights, OHL (2023, 28th, TOR)

[acrobaticgoalie]

Cowan with another 3 points today. Now up to 50 pts in 28 games and on pace for 121 pts over a full season.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Currently 2nd in the OHL in PPG behind Rehkopf.

1.85 for Rehkopf
1.79 for Cowan

 

[Dion TheFluff]

Pretty sure he's leading the OHL in PPG as well to now.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

https://x.com/KPapetti/status/1753655774092341652?s=20

 

[weems]

Nice goal scored in tonights game

 

[weems]

18 game point streak now

 

[wetcoast]

18 game point streak now

Man Cowan and Ritchie are looking like steals at 27 and 28 right now.

The next 3 guys as well.

29. Lindstein
30. Nadeau
31. Gulyayev

 

[weems]

1G, 1A last night

 

[TLEH]

Is he a top-10 prospect right now? I think so. When people say Leafs' window is closing, I look at them and laugh. Cowan will replace Tavares easily, Knies will be a solid depth piece like Foligno in Minnesota, and Niemela will take that next step. Future is bright in Toronto.

He's progressed nicely since drafted but he is not a top 10 prospect right now.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Cowan will replace Tavares easily

Let's pump the brakes a little bit here. Even in a down year Tavares still pacing for roughly 70 points, all while being one of the top faceoff men league wide.

Cowan will not be a C at the NHL level.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Is he a top-10 prospect right now? I think so. When people say Leafs' window is closing, I look at them and laugh. Cowan will replace Tavares easily, Knies will be a solid depth piece like Foligno in Minnesota, and Niemela will take that next step. Future is bright in Toronto.

Top-10 prospect of planet Leaf maybe

The dude is a month away from the WJC (the tournament Tavares absolutely dominated aged 18) where he was shared 28-38th in scoring in his age group. That alone should probably tell you how much of a homer you are being.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He’s a good prospect. Showing he deserved to be drafted in the first round, but for those saying he’s much better than his draft slot the WJC should’ve been a wake up call.

We saw there that not only does he not play like one of the best when all the top prospects are in the same setting (minus the Russians and one or two others), but we also saw that he’s undersized and doesn’t have elite offense. He probably will put up points in the NHL, but he plays on the powerhouse of the OHL and it’s also junior hockey. Plenty of the best prospects in hockey are dominating men’s leagues or the NCAA.

 

[SoundAndFury]

We saw there that not only does he not play like one of the best when all the top prospects are in the same setting (minus the Russians and one or two others)

That's 1) only prospects in a pretty specific age bracket; 2) way more than 1-2 weren't attending, NHL alone has 8 prospects who didn't play, plus Kemell and Kasper in the AHL, etc.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That's 1) only prospects in a pretty specific age bracket; 2) way more than 1-2 weren't attending, NHL alone has 8 prospects who didn't play, plus Kemell and Kasper in the AHL, etc.

Wasn’t counting the guys already in the NHL. They’ve graduated. There are probably a few others that are a little too old for the WJC that are among the best in the league and as I said there are ineligible Russians and a few others who weren’t there for injury or not loaned by their NHL affiliate or snubbed, but for the most part the group we saw there make up the best NHL prospects currently.

 

[Namikaze Minato]

He's progressed nicely since drafted but he is not a top 10 prospect right now.

Yeah not even top 10 from his draft yet, honestly. Still f***in killin it though and he is young enough that he has another crack at the WJC next year to play a more important role, assuming he isnt in the NHL somehow (i dont think hes ready, but he might be too good for CHL... prime example of a guy who could probably use a year or two in NCAA after the CHL).

 

[4thline]

He’s a good prospect. Showing he deserved to be drafted in the first round, but for those saying he’s much better than his draft slot the WJC should’ve been a wake up call.

Eh. He's not a "league wide top" (5-10) prospect, but he's certainly making the case to improve from his slot draft slot, and that he's got legitimate top 6 upside.

We saw there that not only does he not play like one of the best when all the top prospects are in the same setting (minus the Russians and one or two others), but we also saw that he’s undersized and doesn’t have elite offense. He probably will put up points in the NHL, but he plays on the powerhouse of the OHL and it’s also junior hockey. Plenty of the best prospects in hockey are dominating men’s leagues or the NCAA.

The same was said about Marner's WJC experience almost verbatim to diminish him. Cowan is by no means a Marner level prospect, but he's showing strong upside and a flat out ridiculous year to year development curve.

Konecny, Fabbri, Johnston, Debrincat, Frost, Tomasino are fair OHL comparables, and outside of Fabbri none had a markedly better U19 WJC- several weren't in the tourney.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Eh. He's not a "league wide top" (5-10) prospect, but he's certainly making the case to improve from his slot draft slot, and that he's got legitimate top 6 upside.

The same was said about Marner's WJC experience almost verbatim to diminish him. Cowan is by no means a Marner level prospect, but he's showing strong upside and a flat out ridiculous year to year development curve.

Konecny, Fabbri, Johnston, Debrincat, Frost, Tomasino are fair OHL comparables, and outside of Fabbri none had a markedly better U19 WJC- several weren't in the tourney.

Marner was a proven commodity. I think the one with hi is completely different. Everyone thought he was a very good prospect. That he didn't have a good World Juniors was certainly a mark against him. When you are as highly regarded as he was, you are expected to be great everywhere before you reach the NHL, and then if you aren't it's viewed as a red flag. The expectations for some are higher than others.

Cowan is a very different situation. Late first that most thought was over-drafted. He's fighting for respect as opposed to fighting to live up to the title of one of the best prospects around. He simply isn't in that latter category. These redrafts people want to propagate like a few months after the draft are always a little silly. The majority of players haven't seen their skillset change since being drafted and the majority produce well where they've played. So if you want to say Cowan deserves to move up, either make it an argument that you had him higher before the draft and he's lived up to your expectations or you're only talking about like 2-3 players you can make a serious argument have had such bad seasons that you are going to fairly move up Cowan above them.

So no, Cowan isn't close to a top 10 prospect league-wide. He probably isn't top 25 in a re-draft from his own draft at this point. He might be eventually, but the data points aren't there for any drastic changes in his draft slot, especially given one of the two main environments he had to shape the opinion of his season he was underwhelming.

 

[4thline]

@Pavel Buchnevich
You know as well as I that looking at draft as a straight sequential ranking distorts the picture.

His WJC wasn't underwhelming, making it all bodes well, and is more than be said for several of the picks ahead of him

OHL performance cannot be discounted, and he's right there with no less than 5 of the players that were selected ahead of him.


Start of 2023 he was a mid line OHLer and projected midrounder.
Mid 2023 he was a 1st round NHL pick
End 2023 he was one of the best players in the OHL and made Team Canada WJC as a U19.

If you want to take the stance that it's too early to "redraft" - sure. But it's not to early to see that with his current play level and his meteoric development there's a very real chance that he's only going to see one more offseason prospect list and quickly render arguments about his prospect status moot.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Marner was a proven commodity. I think the one with hi is completely different. Everyone thought he was a very good prospect. That he didn't have a good World Juniors was certainly a mark against him. When you are as highly regarded as he was, you are expected to be great everywhere before you reach the NHL, and then if you aren't it's viewed as a red flag. The expectations for some are higher than others.

Cowan is a very different situation. Late first that most thought was over-drafted. He's fighting for respect as opposed to fighting to live up to the title of one of the best prospects around. He simply isn't in that latter category. These redrafts people want to propagate like a few months after the draft are always a little silly. The majority of players haven't seen their skillset change since being drafted and the majority produce well where they've played. So if you want to say Cowan deserves to move up, either make it an argument that you had him higher before the draft and he's lived up to your expectations or you're only talking about like 2-3 players you can make a serious argument have had such bad seasons that you are going to fairly move up Cowan above them.

So no, Cowan isn't close to a top 10 prospect league-wide. He probably isn't top 25 in a re-draft from his own draft at this point. He might be eventually, but the data points aren't there for any drastic changes in his draft slot, especially given one of the two main environments he had to shape the opinion of his season he was underwhelming.

There’s no way you typed that with a straight face.

 

[TimeZone]

He’s a good prospect. Showing he deserved to be drafted in the first round, but for those saying he’s much better than his draft slot the WJC should’ve been a wake up call.

We saw there that not only does he not play like one of the best when all the top prospects are in the same setting (minus the Russians and one or two others), but we also saw that he’s undersized and doesn’t have elite offense. He probably will put up points in the NHL, but he plays on the powerhouse of the OHL and it’s also junior hockey. Plenty of the best prospects in hockey are dominating men’s leagues or the NCAA.

The trend continuing to vastly overestimate a 2 week tournament during the Holidays is still alive and well on Hfboards I see.

Team Canada as a whole was a complete dumpster fire, real tough to judge anyone on that team.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

There’s no way you typed that with a straight face.

I liked Cowan a lot more than most others, but I think it's too early to say he's done more than justify his draft position. Even if there are some ahead of him who are disappointing right now, you've got Nadeau who's showing he fell too far, same with Rehkopf, Brindley, Heidt, etc. If someone didn't have him top 25 pre draft it's reasonable to still believe so, but he's certainly proving his worthiness as a 1st rounder.

 

[PAZ]

Eh. He's not a "league wide top" (5-10) prospect, but he's certainly making the case to improve from his slot draft slot, and that he's got legitimate top 6 upside.

The same was said about Marner's WJC experience almost verbatim to diminish him. Cowan is by no means a Marner level prospect, but he's showing strong upside and a flat out ridiculous year to year development curve.

Hard to say he's improved his draft slot by that much when so many of that draft class is having an exceptional D+1. Rekhopf, Ritchie, Gulyayev, Nadeau, Brindley, etc.

Cowan's upside is similar to Mercer's - a complimentary 50-60 top 6 winger. He has a higher floor than most of the other guys, but i'd personally take most of those aforementioned names over Cowan.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The trend continuing to vastly overestimate a 2 week tournament during the Holidays is still alive and well on Hfboards I see.

The trend continuing to vastly overestimate a CHL point production against extremely weak competition is still alive and well on Hfboards I see. Not even the fact that all 3 kids picked 26-28 produce at basically same pace deters you from talking about him (them then?) significantly moving up in the redraft. Big numbers go brrrrr.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

The trend continuing to vastly overestimate a CHL point production against extremely weak competition is still alive and well on Hfboards I see. Not even the fact that all 3 kids picked 26-28 produce at basically same pace deters you from talking about him (them then?) surely moving up in the redraft. Big numbers go brrrrr.

Ah yes lets ignore what he does over a full season and form our opinion based off of 5 games. Definitely a logical place to be at. Continue on.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Ah yes lets ignore what he does over a full season and form our opinion based off of 5 games. Definitely a logical place to be at. Continue on.

Nobody is ignoring what he's doing, you are the one ignoring what others have said in other posts and me in the one you are quoting: his production is not outstanding, very few players picked before him are having bad years, top of the draft is in the NHL already and guys picked next to him are performing at basically identical pace. The gap between 3 of them is 0,06 PPG. And in this context you are trying to prove Cowan stands out in a major way.