Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan is the OHL MVP

The Leafs may not have a lot of prospects but the ones they have sure seem to be doing well. Easton Cowan’s London Knights are having one hell of a playoff run even by London Knights standards and now he has a little icing on his cake as the OHL has recognized Cowan as the league’s top player this season.

It is about 10 months removed from the collective “who?” when Cowan was selected by the Leafs at the draft. Cowan wasn’t favoured in the draft rankings and as such it looked like the Leafs might be reaching on an undersized forward when there were more recognized names on the board. While I wouldn’t go so far to say that he was written off, the reaction for the frequently reactionary fanbase was lukewarm and it seemed like Cowan immediately went to work changing minds.

Cowan’s hard-nosed hockey, mixed with agitation and skill, drawing comparisons to Brad Marchand and Darcy Tucker changed the narrative and a memorable showing in his first Leafs camp along with unexpectantly earning a spot on the Canadian World Junior roster showed that scouts had either slept on the player or didn’t see enough of Cowan to be as confident as the Leafs were. Taking a chance and swinging for the fences is what you want your amateur scouting team to do and it paid off, probably more than they anticipated.

Cowan went on an unprecedented scoring streak this season and finished the year with 34 goals and 96 points in 54 games for the Knights. He has 4 goals, 14 points in his 12 playoff games as the Knights sit one win away from the OHL finals.

Easton Cowan is been a bright part of the Knights’ season and looks to have elevated himself to being the top prospect in the Leafs’ system. It is reasonable to expect that Cowan will be capable of pushing for spot on the Leafs roster next season. The Leafs could always use more sandpaper and secondary scoring, and it seems that Cowan might be ready to provide that.