Easton Cowan has signed a new contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Super excited to watch him play more next season in the OHL

I'll admit that I was a little stunned when I saw Cowan's name come up over Cristall at pick 28, but as a pretty avid Knights fan, I am extremely excited.

Cowan is such a hard working, tenacious player. Everything about his game screams effective middle to top 6 winger. I'm anticipating a big year for Cowan with the Knights this year after TORCHING the playoffs last season. His journey from a 4th line OHLer to a borderline playoff MVP was astounding. Cowan is going to turn a lot of heads, super glad to have him signed

I would have loved this selection IF he was picked in the 3rd round. Like his teammate Denver Barkey (95th) or Nick Lardis (67th). Not 28th overall, really hope he has an offensive burst this year to justify that selection.

In Cowan’s defence, he played a lot of the season on the 4th line with limited minutes, and he really stepped up on 1st line and special teams. If he had been on the 1st line all year, I think his numbers would look better.

Treliving reportedly did try to trade down, but I don’t think any GM really wanted to since it was such a deep draft so it makes sense to pick him if they were high on him, since the next pick they had was in the 5th round

I think people are quick to judge just looking at numbers not realizing just how far he’s gone through one season, being on 4th line vs being on 1st line is very different. Being a hopefully consistent first liner I hope we will see him improve even more

The making of a kid line, within the next couple of seasons, with Knies or Robertson or Minten or Holdenhauer.

His name sounds like he'd be a character in a Michael Bay movie.

Good signing.

"The Maple Leafs did have opportunities to turn down - plural. The best offer included a pair of second-round round picks, though the specifics beyond that are unknown"

"TOR did not see the risk of losing Cowan as worth the additional picks, they believed he wouldn't be available but those fears appear to be unfounded. None of the teams we spoke to indicated that Cowan was likely to go early in the second round. Perhaps even being available in the third round. "

"Maple Leafs Dir. of Amatur Scouting Wes Clark is one of the very best in the business, so you have to be willing to give him some benefit of the doubt here. If he thinks Cowan will be one of the best 28 players in this years draft, I'm not sure I want to be on the opposite side of that argument."

Elite Prospects

As a Leaf fan I love hard working/complmentary players like a Bunting (4th round), Hyman (5th round), Brown (6th round), Johnsson (7th round), Moore (undrafted) not taken 28th overall. I don't think TOR fans realize how little elite talent that is in the system now that Knies is here. It is very bleak.

The Minten's and Cowan's are not it.

Time will tell, but TOR might really regret this one.

Oh wow I heard they couldn’t trade down, I guess Wes really believes in him. From what I’ve seen so far he’s looked great, but I need to watch him more next season to really see

Every time the Leafs have drafted a Knight results have been pretty good

Sittler 1970
Kadri 2009
Marner 2015
and now Cowen 2023

Nice

Read a bunch of scout reports and looked at his numbers at the beginning and end of the season and man if he played like he did the second half for the whole year he may have pushed into the top 20's for picks

Disappointed with the pick, but whatever, he's here now.

I was at first, but after I watched him play I changed my tune considerably. I’m confident he will surpass most people’s expectations largely

Earlier than I thought he would sign his ELC, and it wasn't the best pick, but oh well.

I saw nothing that inspired me in watching him play. Most notable thing about him by a mile is his work ethic. Tough to envision him as anything more than a bottom 6 energy forward who can chip in. Or at BEST a complimentary top 6'er...

It was a sh*tty pick with the talent that was still on the board

I think Wes Clark knows more than you about drafting man. Just watch his development and then judge

Excuse me for posting my opinion in the exact place that it's meant for...

Like wtf??

Voted NO

Just like Bedard... this is now the WORST CONTRACT IN LEAGUE HISTORY. ELC's are the worst I tell you

Sorry I didn’t mean to come off as rude, I’m just trying to say maybe there’s more than meets the eye there, Wes Clark is known to be good at drafting / scouting.

I apologize again if I came off as rude I sincerely did not mean to

I am absolutely a coach potato scout but tell me if this sounds familiar:

Minten also was somewhat of a reach, depending on whose rankings you trust. He was a big but lanky center in the WHL who was under a point per game, which is not usually the hallmark of a near first round pick. What he did have was a late surge in his development, running at a point per game down the stretch and into the playoffs. His final draft rankings didn't necessarily rise close to where Toronto took him, but they all almost universally called out his improvements late in the year.

Pretty much all of his spike in production came on the powerplay, to the point that quite a few scouts publicly commented about his low percentage of even strength points. He had 12 more points while playing in 10 fewer games. Those 12 extra points came all from the powerplay, so overall his even strength point production remained the same.

Most of us are only questioning the selection for Cowan at 28th and the talent still left on the board.


At least under John Lilley (2018-2021) you could see the talent with the top picks: Sandin, Durzi, Robertson, Amirov, Hirvonen, Niemela, Knies.

I don’t like the direction under Wes Clark: Minten, Cowan

I guess I’m just more hopeful in Wes than most. I don’t wanna come across as condescending as I’m not trying to do that at all, I just really think he can turn into something good

You are not, I just hope it’s ok if some of us question the pick.
It’s not like I’m not rooting against Cowan or Minten, I hope they shut me up. But I am very sceptical that will happen.

Oh yeah you’re allowed to have your own opinion I don’t mind it whatsoever, the only think I just don’t like is when people root for him to fail (not saying anyone here is, I’ve just seen it on Reddit etc.) I am very hopeful but we will see

Tough to convey tone through text, no worries. I could've taken it better.

I hope there is more than meets the eye, because to my eye there really isn't much there in comparison to who they could've had

Not sure how Clark earned that reputation. We haven't seen the returns on his drafts yet and while I was a fan of some of his later picks last year (namely Moldenhauer and Grebyonkin), the earliest selections have been incredibly underwhelming reaches so far. Hope the reaches pay off and make me look stupid.

And of course I don't know more about drafting than Wes Clark (nor any NHL director of amateur scouting) but that doesn't mean he's infallible.

I do apologize again if I rubbed you the wrong way, I could’ve worded it better in my opinion I realize now.

It may have been a reach but either way I’m hopeful he turns into something great