Maple Leafs right wing Easton Cowan (53) made his regular season debut with the club on Monday, after being chosen in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft.Gerry Angus/Reuters
Two losses to the Detroit Red Wings over a span of less than 48 hours are hardly ideal, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for silver linings, the play of Easton Cowan in his National Hockey League debut provided a few.
Two years after being drafted 28th overall, the reigning Memorial Cup most valuable player took advantage of the injury to Steven Lorentz during Saturday’s loss in Motown and found himself inserted onto the top line Monday alongside captain Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
Though he was unable to prevent the Leafs falling to a 3-2 defeat – courtesy of Mason Appleton’s game winner with 45 seconds remaining – he made the most of his 14 minutes and five seconds of ice time, showing some neat touches of skill, as well as tying for the team lead with three hits.
“I think he played phenomenal,” said Matthew Knies, who scored the Leafs’ first goal. “I think he made a lot of great plays, and he’s a heck of a player. I’m excited to keep playing with him.”
Following the traditional rookie lap, which Cowan took helmetless as the sound system at Scotiabank Arena played Big & Rich’s Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) – a tribute to Cowan’s ‘Cowboy’ nickname – the newbie wasted little time getting stuck in.
On his very first shift, he got in the way of a shot from Wings defenceman Simon Edvinsson, and almost scored at the start of the second period, forcing a smart save from Detroit’s Cam Talbot, one of 38 he made in the win.
“I felt like I did a good job of getting pucks, stripping guys and making plays and driving to the net hard. So obviously, those are two good players,” he said, referring to his linemates. “Unfortunate we didn’t come out with the two points tonight, but we’ll learn from it and keep going.”
The 20-year-old has had to be patient. After failing to stick with the big-league club following each of his first two NHL training camps, it was third time lucky for the forward who grew up as a Leafs fan in Mount Brydges, Ont., idolizing former Toronto stars Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner.
But a championship campaign in the Ontario Hockey League last season, where he registered 39 points in 17 playoff games, and another seven in the Memorial Cup itself, spoke to his growth. It was his development without the puck that was equally important for head coach Craig Berube.
Detroit Red Wing Mason Appleton (22) celebrates his game winning goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday in Toronto.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
So much so that the Leafs bench boss had the rookie out there in the dying seconds, with the Maple Leafs chasing another tying goal with goaltender Anthony Stolarz pulled for the extra attacker.
“I thought he had a great game,” Berube said. “He made a lot of good plays with the puck, and he made a good one on six-on-five, too. So that’s why he was out there.
“He was very good on the forecheck. He’s got a great hockey IQ. That’s the bottom line.”
As for his growth from last year’s training camp to this, Berube added that Cowan looks like a “totally different player.”
Though it seems that Cowan – and impatient Leaf fans – have been forced to wait for his NHL debut, it’s a testament to the player’s continued development in recent years that he’s at this level at all.
Just four years ago, Cowan was playing for the Komoka Kings of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League – which is two rungs below the OHL – before catching on with the London Knights later in the 2021-22 season.
“Obviously, it’s pretty crazy,” he said of his journey. “You know, about five years ago I was playing Junior B, so just shows, if you stick with it and work hard, good things will come. So just gonna keep doing that.”
The Maple Leafs will hope that some of those good things will come to them too. Despite outshooting Detroit 40-15, Toronto ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat, its second reverse in its opening three games. Knies and Calle Jarnkrok’s third-period goals almost ignited a comeback effort, but Appleton’s late winner put a pin in those hopes.
Still, Toronto has plenty of chances to atone this coming week, with home games against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, the New York Rangers on Thursday and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
It just goes to show that the defending Atlantic Division champions will have to fight every inch of the way if they have any hopes of defending their title.
“Detroit’s a much improved team,” Berube said. “We talked about Ottawa before, Montreal. It’s going to be a tough division for sure.”