Took a lot of crap on here (the day he was drafted) for saying it was a great pick for the Leafs. Was one of the only ones really, proving I think a lot of Cowan.
That said, he has so much more to still prove, before he’s in Perfetti’s class.. He’s still developing. ALL of Cowan’s success is of a physical nature still.
The pure insanity (on here) regarding Junior stats is never going to change because fans rarely watch these young players play, and even when they do, they can’t differentiate junior success from any pending pro expectations. Give them Stefan’s stats from Portland (WHL) the last couple of years, they’d tell you he was a 1st Round pick, and an NHL lock. Yet he was barely given an NHL contract going undrafted.
Then every year we have players with less stats become much better NHL players, because they can process the game at higher levels than junior kids. They can create space you need to be able to do in the NHL, etc, etc. Attributes Cowan still hasn’t shown. It’s a big summer for him.
A great comparison from a year ago. Edmonton fans and Petrov. That’s a lot of Leaf fans and Cowan right now. Othmann and NYR fans was another one. A year ago they thought he was the second coming.
It doesn’t mean they won’t be better players than more established players like Perfetti. You’d just be stupid though, to choose them over a 22 year old who’s shown he can produce against NHL players already.
The only way you make trades like this, is if a player is forcing his way out of an organization and his value is less than normal.
So as of today, you just don’t make this trade if you’re the Jets. The Leafs would, and should, all day long.
