Canada to lean on Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan in world junior tournament

Easton Cowan had to bide his time.

Taken in the second round of the Ontario Hockey League's 2021 priority selection draft by the London Knights, he was initially bumped down two levels at age 16 for more seasoning.

Cowan took the demotion in stride. He accepted the constructive criticism. He worked on his game, confident of a return.

"We're in a day and age where everybody seems to be in such a rush to develop," Knights associate general manager Rob Simpson said. "Everything has to be now, now, now. It's a good example of being patient and sticking with the process.

"Everybody develops at different ages."

Cowan was a bit of a late bloomer. Now the 19-year-old selected 28th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2023 NHL draft is expected to be a focal point for Canada at the world junior hockey championship in Ottawa starting Dec. 26.

"We're just excited to play on home soil — it's something else," Cowan said. "Really looking forward to get going."

The six-foot, 185-pound forward has had it going in the OHL ever since last season with a 56-game point streak dating back to November 2023.

"Focusing on wins has helped me produce," the native of Mount Brydges, Ont, said of his astounding run with the Knights. "When you're not focusing on the points, that's when they're found."

'No one thought anything of him'

Canadian defenceman Oliver Bonk, also Cowan's teammate in London, has watched his rise up close.

"No one really thought anything of him," said the blue liner. "He just turned it up and started to play his game. Now he's this skill guy we all know. He's really carried himself well."

Simpson said Cowan's attitude never once wavered, especially during the 2021-22 season with the Komoka Kings of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

"Always had hunger," he said. "Anything you would give him to improve, he was all over it. You didn't have to hold his hand and bring him to the gym or bring him to the ice or bring him to video sessions — always there and looking for more, looking for any way he could improve.

"He's always had that internal drive."

Cowan and Bonk are among five players back with Canada, which opens its tournament on Boxing Day against Finland at the Canadian Tire Centre, carrying the baggage of unfinished business after the country's bitterly disappointing fifth-place showing in Sweden some 11 1/2 months ago.

"That was last year," Cowan said bluntly. "We're focused on this year."

Simpson said that while his player's points are getting the expected headlines, drilling down on other aspects of his craft is where there's been the most growth.

"The maturity in his game has come to another level," Simpson said. "He's a player that likes to make plays. He needs to pick his spots when it's a good decision and when it's a little bit more of a risky one.

"He's done that very well."

2 points at 2024 world juniors

Canada will rely on Cowan, whose OHL point streak isn't officially a record because it stretches across two campaigns, for offence in the nation's capital. He missed last week's selection camp as a precaution after taking a big hit playing with London, but is back on the ice alongside teammates in Petawawa, Ont., before a trio of pre-tournament games beginning Thursday.

"He can raise his level at important moments," said Hockey Canada's Peter Anholt, who leads the country's under-20 program. "Special in that regard."

Cowan, who had a goal and an assist as an underage player at the 2024 world juniors, has 28 points in 20 contests with London this season after Toronto gave him a long look at training camp.

That experience along with what's to come must have felt a long way off for the kid grinding away in Komoka, a town just outside London in southwestern Ontario, three years ago.

"Keep working if you have the love of the game and you have the work ethic and dedication," Simpson said of the lessons in Cowan's journey. "People are seeing the end result.

"Even as a 16-year-old when he was playing Junior B and he was skating with us, every day he'd be out long after practice working on his shot, working on his game."

Bonk is proud of his teammate's push to this point.

"Everyone's got a different path," Bonk said. "Some guys get better right away, then they drop off. And some guys just keep getting better.

"That's what happened with him."

Canada will be hoping Cowan soon reaches another level — this time on the world junior stage.