The Toronto Maple Leafs final roster has finally reached its final form on the morning of the season opener, with top prospect Easton Cowan returning to the Maple Leafs and fellow prospect Jacob Quillan heading to the Marlies to start the season.

This is simply the after-effect of a paper move to ensure the Maple Leafs were cap compliant to start the season. With Scott Laughton on the shelf after blocking a shot and Joseph Woll still away from the team attending to a personal matter, the Leafs weren’t initially eligible to add those two players to the injured reserve since there wasn’t a timeframe on their injuries. While they were initially going to be cap compliant before the October 6 deadline, the waiver claims of forward Sammy Blais and goaltender Cayden Primeau required that they do some juggling with the roster to maintain their compliance.

With Cowan returning to the team, it will be interesting to see if he makes his NHL debut in the Maple Leafs’ season opener against the Montreal Canadiens. Both general manager Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube expressed their confidence in Cowan following practice on Tuesday.

“Today, he’s not on the roster. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” Treliving said. “Easton has had a really good camp. I think he’s right there, ready to play for us. If he’s going to be playing with us here, great, but if he’s not, I want him playing.”

Berube said the same thing on Saturday following the Maple Leafs’ final preseason game.