The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a poor effort against the Ottawa Senators, losing 5–2 in regulation. The Leafs sit 25th in the standings in a season that has gone completely off the rails. From a lineup not meshing all season, to the poor trade deadline by general manager Brad Treliving, and from a lineup where Craig Berube’s player utilization has been mismanaged.
Easton Cowan has been one of the few positives this season, especially in the loss against the Senators, where he had one goal and one assist. Regardless of whether Brad Treliving and Craig Berube are let go at the end of the season, Cowan is one player that you keep.
Easton Cowan has been poorly utilized
It is no secret that Craig Berube has not gotten enough out of the roster this season. Calle Jarnkrok still gets into the lineup despite not performing and being a UFA at the end of the season. The puzzling coaching decision has Jarnkrok ahead of prospects that the Leafs need to evaluate at the NHL level.
However, Easton Cowan, who has been with the team the whole season, has been poorly utilized. Cowan has played 11–12 minutes per night until recently, when he has been up to 16–18 minutes. Even this recent increase in ice time still has him at an average time on ice of 15:08 in March.
Cowan made the team out of training camp, largely because he showed that his defensive game had improved. However, Cowan’s skillset is not that of a Calle Jarnkrok or Dakota Joshua. He has the playmaking ability to play higher in the lineup.
However, similar to how Auston Matthews takes more defensive zone starts than any other superstar in the league, Berube seems dedicated to also mismanaging Cowan by playing him almost exclusively in the bottom-six.
Since Matthews has been injured, along with trading away Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann, Cowan is finally playing more top-six minutes. Recently, Cowan has been on the top line with John Tavares and William Nylander. However, the season is almost over, and the players clearly don’t listen to Berube.
Unless you’re expecting Cowan to dominate like Connor McDavid and do everything himself at age 20 with linemates who are not putting in maximum effort (except maybe Tavares), he is still being set up to fail in some ways.
Room to grow
While it’s probably common across the league for teams to evaluate rookies more stringently, I think Craig Berube in particular evaluates rookies harder than he does veterans. He hasn’t played Jacob Quillan for most of the season despite being called up because… reasons? Bo Groulx is finally getting a look with the Leafs when he has been tearing it up in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies because… reasons?
I understand Cowan has defensive warts to his game, but he’s only 20. The last thing you want to do is to create an environment where any little mistake means that you’re a healthy scratch for the next game. Not only does this get into a young player’s head, but it also takes away their creativity and confidence.
Since playing on the top line, Cowan has looked more dynamic. He made several brilliant passes last game, including one in tight to Tavares for his 25th goal of the season. We can see his playmaking potential on full display.
Despite playing lower in the lineup, he has scored nine goals, 13 assists for 22 points in 55 games. Pretty good for a player who has played in the OHL last season, and played on a bad Leafs’ team.
And the best part? He is only going to get better.
I think some fans were expecting Cowan to show up and perform like Mitch Marner or William Nylander out of the gate. To be fair, he did score 84 goals, 136 assists for 220 points in 175 games for the London Knights. He won the OHL championship in 2024 and 2025 and was the playoff MVP in 2024.
But very few players are Mitch Marner or William Nylander. I think the bigger question for Cowan is: what do we do next year?
What to do after this season?
I don’t think playing Cowan on the top line at this point in the season is necessarily a bad thing. I think Cowan is happy to be out of a bottom-six role and play in the part of the lineup he is built for. He is still gaining valuable experience.
However, if this is how Berube was going to use Cowan for most of the year, I think he should have played on the Marlies. On the Marlies, he would have been on the top line, playing PP1 minutes and developing as a pro playing against men. He was clearly too good for the OHL, but the AHL would’ve been a good step. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t play in the AHL last year, due to being too young for the league.
Assuming both Treliving and Berube are fired at the end of the season, which I hope they are, I would think a new coach would better utilize Cowan in the lineup. If he continues to get bottom-six minutes, I think you have to send him down. Not because he’s bad, but because his skillset doesn’t align with the available spot you’re playing him in.
At this point, you’re forcing him to adapt to a game that doesn’t align with his skillset. The risk in continuing to do so is that Cowan will not realize his true potential: A fast, tenacious player with a high level of playmaking.
Unless there is an offer that can’t be refused this offseason, Cowan needs to remain a Leaf. The Leafs need young, hungry players on entry-level contracts who have high-end skill potential. Especially with the Leafs prospect cupboard nearly empty, there is no one close in the organization to Cowan’s potential.
Even Mitch Marner and William Nylander didn’t perform as well their first year or two! Cowan is a 20 year old rookie of small size coming straight from the OHL boys’ league to the best men’s hockey league in the world where the demands are way more extreme in every way. There have been times when he has sat that are preceded by his play diminishing because he’s wearing out. If he played more minutes, he would wear out sooner and play less games. If he plays 11-12 minutes, he’s not going to be on the top 2 lines. In summary, Cowan has been managed very well by the professionals who are around him every day and consequently, has looked like a rock star MOST of the time he’s on the ice. Cowan will bulk up and strengthen up in the off-season which will make him much better. He should then be a solid 1st or 2nd liner. He is as good as Domi, Robertson and Maccelli with much more potential. He’s staying.
Treliving traded EXACTLY who he should have traded and no more considering teams weren’t offering to pay enough. He did great with Roy. Keep in mind that both McMann and Laughton played very poorly in last years’ playoffs. They are UFAs so any team acquiring them is only doing so for the playoffs! They are rental UFAs, no retention, no term. Laughton came with retention, term and as a 3C, leaving as a 4C! It’s likely also that both are looking to get every last dime in UFA from a foolish overpaying GM. The Leafs were struggling forever to make the playoffs so they were playing their best known lineup, not trying out AHLers! They don’t have a president and Pelley doesn’t know enough to be firing the GM and head coach and hiring new ones! They shouldn’t really replace the coach if they’re going to replace the GM a bit later either! Also, the Leafs needed a GM quick so they got the best AVAILABLE in Treliving. This time they should wait until the GM they really want is available.
Matthews takes more defensive zone starts because the team is so poor at getting the puck out of their own zone and up the ice. It’s good that Matthews has developed into a very good 200ft center because it appears he has lost some ability with his shot and the days of him getting 50s or 60s for goals may be gone.