As the top prospect in the system, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Easton Cowan is definitely going through an adjustment period with his time in the NHL. This season has seen him play in different roles at different times while also seeing him get his first NHL goal and four points in his first 12 games.
Expectations are always going to be tempered and you don’t want to rush a player, but Cowan has fared well coming into this season with a great mindset and showing some bright spots early on in his career. However, some criticism about his play is already starting to emerge.
Bunkis and McKee’s Comments Don’t Reflect Cowan’s Nature
Earlier in the week on their show Leafs Talk, both JD Bunkis and Sam McKee had some interesting comments regarding Cowan after their 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
“He looks like he’s starting to get a bit frustrated, which scares me. Having him around this team with all these bad vibes, I just don’t love it.” Bunkis said. He added towards the end, “I don’t want him to feel entitled… I don’t need that culture to trickle down to the next generation of younger players.”
While I get what Bunkis is saying, it doesn’t make any sense to suggest that there will be any form of entitlement with Cowan because that isn’t and has never been who he is. From his days starting off in the GOJHL, he wasn’t gifted a spot to play in the Ontario Hockey League. He had to earn it. He eventually did and became a part of the core of the London Knights that was dominant for three straight seasons. He worked his way up and earned the trust of Dale Hunter to become an important player for him.
He wasn’t given the label of a first-round pick, he earned it as his play in the playoffs stood out where he was a point per game (21 points in 20 games) in his draft year. He followed that up with a 96-point season earning the Most Outstanding Player award. He got cut twice in camp because he wasn’t ready and added two OHL Championships, a Memorial Cup and tournament MVP as a result. He worked his tail off in the preseason and had a lot to prove because of it.
I get that no one wants the entitlement mindset to creep in again given what we’ve seen in the past, but Cowan has never been that kind of player. It’s not his nature. He’s humble and he showed it when he was drafted. He’s hard working and driven and to suggest otherwise is not accurate.
Matthew Knies quickly became a fixture in the top-six and there was no talk of him being entitled? Again, like Cowan, Knies worked hard for his spot and earned it as he quickly went from a middle-six player to the top line. Cowan is doing the same thing as Knies and yet the attitude is changing around Cowan. There has never been entitlement throughout his career and there certainly is none right now.
McKee added that head coach Craig Berube is “feeling the heat and that he doesn’t care… and he does not care about development, he does not care about anyone’s feelings… He’s playing him because he thinks he needs to win to keep his job.”
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Counter point to this, how are you supposed to let your best prospects develop? By giving them every opportunity and chance to succeed. Why not give him a chance where Max Domi hasn’t done remotely anything and the Matias Maccelli experiment didn’t really pan out.
Berube has the same mindset as the Hunters and if he feels comfortable playing Cowan in bigger spots, then let him learn from it as he has earned it over some of the other veterans on this team. He’s high on him and wouldn’t be doing that if he didn’t think he was up for the challenge. Yes, the points haven’t come, but eventually they will. To me he has earned it as other players, haven’t done remotely enough to be in that spot.
With all the injuries and being moved up in the lineup, he had a number of great chances compared to others in the game against the Blackhawks and while nothing went in, it’s only a matter of time before they do. Even against the St. Louis Blues, Cowan had more looks and was more engaged than some of the veterans.
He’s still learning and while he needs to shake off some of the mistakes that he has made, he has been impactful for this team at five-on-five. With a minimum of 100 minutes played, Cowan is first in expected goals for with 62.12%, scoring chances for with 59.38% and high danger chances with 62.79%. That doesn’t seem to be a player that is coming in with an entitled mentality when he’s generating chances while he’s on the ice.
He is his own player on the ice and is already having better results than a roster full of veterans.
Cowan’s Character Stands Above Criticism
While seeing Cowan make faces on the bench after failed breakaways might rub some people the wrong way, it’s the exact opposite. He’s showing emotion, an aspect that has been really hit or miss with this team. He’s a character driven player and will do whatever it takes to win.
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In a lineup decimated by injuries and veterans not stepping up, Cowan has earned that right to move up in the lineup, to earn those top power play minutes and to be a key player on the ice. It’s not going to be like that for long, but his character and play alone stands above everything else. He fits the way how Berube wants to play; hard-working, battling and winning battles.
There’s no way that Cowan will feel entitled because he has always done everything his way to the point and it has worked out well for him. When Cowan has been called upon, he has delivered. He has earned the trust of the coaching staff as he looks to continue to grow and elevate his game.
Statistics from Natural Stat Trick.
