It’s suffice to say that Hockey Canada faced a significant amount of blowback from across the country after another underwhelming performance at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa this past winter break.
You don’t need me to dive into everything that went wrong. My fellow colleague Gregory Babinski did a wonderful job summarizing up the tournament as a whole; from organizational failings, to how the ever-changing tapestry that is international hockey should be forcing Canada’s hand when it comes to team selection.
A target on the Leafs prospects
Despite the changing nature of the sport, one thing hasn’t changed. That’s the intense scrutiny that Leafs prospects (particularly those that play for Canada) will endure. I wasn’t on Twitter (now known as X) back in the 2015–16 season when Mitch Marner and Travis Dermott were on a Team Canada that disappointedly fell in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Finland.
But if the last two years are anything to go by, it likely wasn’t pretty.
Fraser Minten got a taste of that last year. The Leafs second-round pick shocked the hockey world with his announcement on Toronto’s opening night roster. With the vote of confidence from then head coach Sheldon Keefe, also came the intense scrutiny and expectation from the fishbowl that is Toronto Maple Leafs hockey.
After all, this is a fanbase that has been spoiled for the most part with their young forwards. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were all essentially above-average to elite producers the moment they stepped onto NHL ice at a young age. Connor Brown, Pierre Engvall and Andreas Johnsson had different development timelines as well as ebbs and flows throughout their careers in blue and white, but all of them secured full-time NHL roles essentially upon call-up.
Connor Brown and Andreas Johnsson both ended the season with Toronto in their first stretch of opportunities on NHL ice and relayed those into full-time positions the year after. Pierre Engvall played 48 games in his rookie season with Toronto.
Even more recently, Matthew Knies came off a red-hot season with Minnesota in the Frozen Four and immediately became one of Toronto’s most impactful players in their 2019 playoff run.
From that aspect, perhaps it wasn’t unfair for Leafs fans to expect Fraser Minten to take that 3C role and run with it. After all, it’s what they were used to. What some failed to consider however, is the fact that Connor Brown was 22 and Pierre Engvall and Andreas Johnsson were 23 when they received their first call ups. Fraser Minten was 19.
As a result, he predictably struggled, his skating just wasn’t quite up to par and he lacked the confidence with the puck to be anything more than a below average, low event player at the NHL level.
However, he and fellow Atlantic Division prospect Matthew Poitras ended up being the focal points of Team Canada’s WJC squad during the team selection process. Why? Because they made their NHL Teams out of camp. Minten was named captain despite not having the greatest start to the WHL season with a bad Kamloops team before he was moved to Saskatoon.
Team Canada’s issues
Between Minten’s captaincy and the overall team construction, Team Canada frankly put him in the worst possible position to succeed.
He was given first line centre and first power play duties even though his skillset was best suited as a third line center with PK1 value and potentially PP2 viability. Unfortunately, Canada neglected to bring any play drivers of offense that year, relying on Macklin Celebrini and Jordan Dumais to do most of the heavy lifting in that respect.
Canada capitalized on a weaker group, beating out Latvia and Germany by a combined differential of 16–3, but much of that came down to the individual brilliance of under-ager Celebrini. The secondary offensive creation wasn’t there, and Minten’s sudden inability to put a puck on net or corral a pass or loose puck without bobbling it made him an easy target for Canadian fans…especially after the team bowed out in the quarterfinals to Czechia after a last-minute goal from Jakub Stancl.
Minten hadn’t played well at the tournament, and it was clear that he had a lot to work on to grow his game if he wanted to become that middle six option Toronto was hoping he could be. However, it was curious for Hockey Canada to bring him in to be their top option when he wasn’t even the first-line centre for Kamloops the previous season.
This year with Easton Cowan it was almost déjà vu. Almost.
Instead of the situation with Fraser Minten last year where a lack of confidence resulted in bobbled pucks and mis-timed one timers on the powerplay it was the opposite. While Minten’s main criticism was being almost invisible on the ice, Cowan was almost too noticeable, for all the wrong reasons.
Room to grow for Cowan
Despite tying the team lead with three points in five games, Cowan drew criticism from many (including myself) with his decision making on the puck. He was elevated into a first line role and stayed on the first powerplay unit the entire tournament and it seemed far too often at the tournament he was trying to be the hero.
In his role on the right flank for Canada’s powerplay, he’d often hang onto the puck instead of moving it quickly, circling the half boards looking insistently for a pass to the bumper. Too often, especially early in the tournament, he would look to wrister the puck in from the perimeter instead of involving his teammates.
Worse, while Canada as an entire team this year was extremely undisciplined (Cole Beaudoin was ejected from Canada’s game against Czechia for kneeing), Easton Cowan seemed to be the poster boy. He was scrumming it up intentionally after every whistle. Between his litany of penalties and his puck-dominant style of play—that was put on blast against Czechia when he opted to shoot it instead of finding a wide open Oliver Bonk on a two-on-one—Cowan had drawn the ire of many Canadian fans.
It’s hard because as someone who watched Cowan a lot in the final week leading up to his draft year, and then even more last season enroute to his OHL MVP, his performance for London and Canada were night and day. I didn’t see the usual relentless motor and energy, and while Cowan is guilty of playing a bit too “junior hockey like” for London too, he generally moves the puck well as a facilitator and his shot-pass balance is far more even.
Perhaps part of it was Hockey Canada putting him in a role that he was ill-suited to play. Canada left dynamic game-changing offensive talents at home like Michael Misa, Andrew Cristall and Beckett Sennecke in favour of more traditional bottom six pieces like Ethan Gauthier and Cole Beaudoin. Players that would’ve been much better suited to fill that play-driving role that Canda was so desperately hoping Cowan could fill.
It’s no surprise in the third period of the Czechia quarter final game when Cowan and Ritchie got put on a line with McKenna that it was the best hockey he’d played all tournament. He didn’t have to be the main man on a line from a creativity and entry-generation perspective. He could just play his game.
There was a lot of mention after Minten’s tournament last year to trade him for any player that could help the team right away, and in the weeks since the WJC, I’ve seen more of the same around Cowan who just two or three months ago would’ve been considered untouchable by most of the fanbase.
It’s a gross misunderstanding of what these two players can bring to the table.
Overreactions galore
Easton Cowan isn’t some elite play driver who will singlehandedly get 60+ points in the NHL from his skill. At his best, he’s a feisty, hard-nosed player who will play in your top six as a support piece while having more than enough skill to keep up (in that role) with the best players in the NHL. He’ll likely be a 55–65 point player, who offers extreme versatility and penalty kill value, while not shying away from the physical aspect of the game.
Likewise, Fraser Minten isn’t going to be a 2016–17 Nazem Kadri for Toronto, but he’s likely going to be a reliable 25–30 goal, 45–55 point scorer in his prime who will excel defensively and could even play in a top six role alongside someone who can set him up for his laser beam shot.
Their supreme value to the Leafs is the fact that they’re only 19–20 and will likely at some point play for the Leafs on an ELC, allowing the team to maximize their cap elsewhere.
The two of them aren’t untouchable by any means. If there is a trade in Brad Treliving’s inbox for a legit top six centre with term you don’t let either of those players be the reason you don’t pull the trigger. However, your opinion on them as prospects shouldn’t change from a 10-day tournament as I’ve seen many have.
Right now, Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten are Toronto Maple Leaf prospects. If they stay, I have a ton of faith that they’ll become very good Toronto Maple Leafs. Their World Juniors shouldn’t define their career.
