Easton Cowan’s fast start has already put the Maple Leafs in a spot where a bigger role feels overdue.
After Toronto’s 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, the focus quickly shifted to how new head coach Jim Hiller handled his lineup - and, more specifically, how little Cowan ended up playing. The 21-year-old had broken out over the first two games of the season, enough that a bump in usage seemed possible. Instead, he skated 19 shifts, right around the same workload he had been getting, and finished with just over 12 minutes of ice time.
That usage stood out even more because Cowan has been running the second power-play unit, which gives him another lane to force the issue. Toronto’s upcoming schedule could help him make that case.
The Maple Leafs visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, a team that finished bottom-seven in defense last season, before tougher matchups arrive against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday and the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Colorado, of course, finished last season as the NHL’s best defensive team.
If Cowan keeps producing through that stretch, a look in the top six could be back on the table.
For now, there’s also a reasonable argument for patience. It is still early, and Hiller may simply want a better read on what this group looks like before making changes. But if Toronto does shuffle things around, Cowan looks like the clearest candidate to move up.
That would not have to mean dropping Gavin McKenna after his slow start to his NHL career. The more interesting move would be bringing Jack Roslovic down from the top line.
Roslovic, 29, was added in part because of his history with Auston Matthews from the U.S. National Team Development Program and the connection between the two.
He deserves a real chance to see if that chemistry still works, but Cowan has given Toronto a legitimate alternative.
There’s a pretty strong case for it, too. With newcomer Kirill Marchenko effectively serving as an upgrade on Matthew Knies, Cowan’s numbers from last season make a similar setup worth exploring. He spent just under 54 minutes with Matthews and Knies across 17 games, and the results were clean: two goals scored, none allowed.
Cowan finished last season with nearly 30 points in 66 games, and the early signs suggest there may be more there if he’s given a bigger stage. Put him next to Matthews and Marchenko, let the line breathe, and Toronto might find the kind of spark fans have been waiting to see. At the very least, it is a look worth giving if the Roslovic experiment keeps sputtering.
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What made the day stand out even before the puck dropped was McKenna showing up for the optional morning skate, a small detail that did not go unnoticed by fans or media around the team. Auston Matthews even suggested McKenna could be in line for more after getting that first one, and for a player still settling into his NHL footing, that kind of confidence can matter as much as the box score. [Read more 🡒]