The Maple Leafs have found plenty to like in the early going, but Easton Cowan has been the one setting the pace.
Three games into the season, Cowan has been Toronto’s most consistent forward in terms of impact and results. He has three points already, and the way he’s driving play has made him impossible to ignore. With the experience he picked up early in his career and a better sense of what the NHL asks of him, this start looks like the kind that can launch a real breakout if it holds.
Cowan’s game is making the strongest case for itself in the middle of the lineup. Last season, he flashed what he could do as a rookie while bouncing around the lineup, and he did have stretches on the top line, including time alongside Auston Matthews. But with the Leafs’ depth up front and the addition of Kirill Marchenko, the fit that makes the most sense right now is on the third line as a checking winger.
The underlying numbers back that up. At five-on-five, Cowan leads the team in expected goals for at 73.48%, scoring chances for at 78.79% and high danger chances for at 82.35%. Even in a tiny sample, that kind of control is hard to miss.
What’s showing up on the ice is even more striking. Cowan has been relentless on the attack, playing with more speed and more bite than before.
He’s winning battles, getting inside position and making himself a constant problem in the offensive zone. That edge has helped create real chemistry with Nick Paul and Colton Sissons, two players who match his style with their own nonstop pressure game.
It’s a line that keeps generating chances and results, and right now it looks like the one combination Toronto shouldn’t touch.
That kind of depth production matters for a team that wants to be competitive, especially in an area where consistency hasn’t always been there.
Jim Hiller has noticed. After the game against the New York Islanders, the Maple Leafs head coach praised Cowan’s confidence, skating, determination and the way he’s setting the tone by example. Hiller also pointed to Cowan’s path and mindset, saying he keeps battling and finding ways to win every battle he can.
That lines up with the player Cowan has been since the draft. The skill has always been there, but so have the work habits and the willingness to hound pucks and annoy opponents in the offensive zone. He hasn’t drifted from the traits that made him effective in the first place.
He’s also taking another step forward after a full season of learning. There were bumps last year, but he came out of it with more experience and added another accomplishment to his résumé by playing a key role in helping the Toronto Marlies win the American Hockey League Championship. That run showed his playmaking, his tenacity and his compete level all at once.
Now he’s carrying that into his second season and looking more polished while doing it. Cowan has been a surprise early on, but not because he’s lucky - because he’s earning everything. He may fit best on the third line for now, but if Hiller needs to shuffle things around, Cowan is the kind of player he can trust to answer the call.
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For Toronto, that matters because team-building questions never really go away in a cap system, they just change shape depending on the market. What used to look like a roster burden can suddenly look like cost certainty, and thats part of the contrast being drawn as the Leafs contract picture is viewed against a league where Edmonton is still hearing outside noise about Connor McDavids future, even if that speculation has little grounding in anything McDavid himself or the Oilers have indicated. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Got An Opening Ottawa Could Not Afford To Give Away
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The Leafs wasted little time taking advantage, scoring twice in a row after Sanderson exited to grab a 2-1 lead. In a game where every shift mattered, Ottawa could not afford to lose one of its top defensemen, and Toronto quickly showed why those kinds of openings rarely stay closed for long. [Read more 🡒]