Prospect Info: 2023 1st Rd Selection - #28 OA (via BOS, WSH) - C, Easton Cowan [London Knights, OHL; [Height 5.11 -- Weight 185]

[ThrowDemTongs]

cowan hits like Mike Richards i love it

Mike Richards the typa player to score a SHG on a 5 on 3

 

[The Masters]

Can someone give me NHL comparisons on this kid?

Best case comp? Regular comp?

 

[djdev]

Can someone give me NHL comparisons on this kid?

Best case comp? Regular comp?

bukala called him a "modern day darcy tucker" type. if hes that we are in great shape.

ive also heard from a few places hes like a kreider type(with less speed) or konekny type too, hard to say cuz comps 99% of the time suck lol

 

[ponder]

Can someone give me NHL comparisons on this kid?

Best case comp? Regular comp?

Best case comp, I’d say similar to Konecny.

Regular comp, more like roughly Garland/Coleman level.

 

[Martin Skoula]

bukala called him a "modern day darcy tucker" type. if hes that we are in great shape.

ive also heard from a few places hes like a kreider type(with less speed) or konekny type too, hard to say cuz comps 99% of the time suck lol

Konecny and Hagel seem like the obvious comps, Kreider is only Kreider because he’s a physical mutant.

 

[djdev]

Konecny and Hagel seem like the obvious comps, Kreider is only Kreider because he’s a physical mutant.

hes only 18, you never know still, but ye kreider is my least fave comp ive heard as far as actual style goes.

im praying bukala is right here. if he ends up anything like tucker im dancing in the streets.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Konecny and Hagel seem like the obvious comps, Kreider is only Kreider because he’s a physical mutant.

more like Maxim Afinogenov than Kreider

 

[Martin Skoula]

hes only 18, you never know still, but ye kreider is my least fave comp ive heard as far as actual style goes.

Kreider is 6’3 230 and had a video of him jumping out of a pool in waist height water before he came in to the NHL, that’s not something you get putting in work in the offseason. He’s Ovechkin size/explosiveness just minus the brain hands and shot.

Don’t get me wrong I’d love for Cowan to have a random growth spurt like that but you’re not playing a Kreider netfront/forecheck game at a generous 190. If he gets to an Acciari bulldog size in a few years that’s already a win.

Edit by Mod ... Kreider pool jump

 

[francis246]

Travis Konecny is probably the best comparable I’ve seen. Brad Marchand is probably my comparable for him. Just really tenacious but can make highly skilled plays.

He does have elements of Marner is his game as well but Cowan isn’t afraid to drive the net or shoot.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Travis Konecny is probably the best comparable I’ve seen. Brad Marchand is probably my comparable for him. Just really tenacious but can make highly skilled plays.

He does have elements of Marner is his game as well but Cowan isn’t afraid to drive the net or shoot.

Neither was Marner in junior. Just saying.

 

[Stephen]

His stocky build, offensive explosiveness and that little crouch he gets into when driving kind of reminds me of Nathan Mackinnon stylistically. Obviously he’s not projecting to be a 140 point, cup winning all-time fiery great but a little bit of that pepper pot on a rampage flavour mixed with a little Brandon Hagel.

 

[Stephen]

Travis Konecny is probably the best comparable I’ve seen. Brad Marchand is probably my comparable for him. Just really tenacious but can make highly skilled plays.

He does have elements of Marner is his game as well but Cowan isn’t afraid to drive the net or shoot.

He’s a lot more average sized than Marchand though. But I did compare him to Mackinnon for how he gets compact when he’s driving and Marchand has that tendency too. “Nova Scotia” style maybe?

 

[TorMapleJays]

Cowans got three biscuits in the 6-2 comeback that’s just going into OT now.

 

[fahad203]

Cowans got three biscuits in the 6-2 comeback that’s just going into OT now.

Dude better be careful. That's not how we do things around here

 

[IrishInOntario]

I've been loudly pushing the Konecny comp for months and I'm sticking by it.

I see a significant amount of Clayton Keller in him as well, with some more bite.

Regardless, I think he'll score somewhere between the levels of those guys down the road.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Neither was Marner in junior. Just saying.

This may be true but a big difference this time around is we won’t employ a mandate of “turn the other cheek” garbage that permeated this team in the early days of this core and led to the removal of Kadri and the pacification of Matthews and Marner. We also hopefully won’t go out and sign career losers like Marleau and Thornton to poison the well so to speak.

 

[The Masters]

This may be true but a big difference this time around is we won’t employ a mandate of “turn the other cheek” garbage that permeated this team in the early days of this core and led to the removal of Kadri and the pacification of Matthews and Marner. We also hopefully won’t go out and sign career losers like Marleau and Thornton to poison the well so to speak.

This is true. I actually think the culture and individual play got softer as the years went on. This created bad habits in our players. Marner was scrappy early on. the soft coaching and not being held accountable created bad habits.

 

[Martin Skoula]

This is true. I actually think the culture and individual play got softer as the years went on. This created bad habits in our players. Marner was scrappy early on. the soft coaching and not being held accountable created bad habits.

No it’s just Marner that got softer, Nylander is noticeably stronger and goes to the net more often and Matthews throws hits and gets into some dirty stick work now. I haven’t seen anyone else on the team on the verge of tears multiple times like lil Mitch.

He’s the same height as Nylander and over 20 pounds lighter, in almost a decade since getting drafted he’s put on maybe 10-15 pounds. If he wanted to be scrappy he’d consider hitting the weights here and there.

 

[Mad hatter]

Neither was Marner in junior. Just saying.

NHL is definitely a lot harder to go where you want to go than junior. I think Cowan has more aggression than Marner, which I hope he continues in the NHL. Only time will tell if he can play this game against men though. Scraping kids isn’t like scraping men but I love the fact that Cowan isn’t afraid to drop the mittens

 

[The Masters]

No it’s just Marner that got softer, Nylander is noticeably stronger and goes to the net more often and Matthews throws hits and gets into some dirty stick work now. I haven’t seen anyone else on the team on the verge of tears multiple times like lil Mitch.

He’s the same height as Nylander and over 20 pounds lighter, in almost a decade since getting drafted he’s put on maybe 10-15 pounds. If he wanted to be scrappy he’d consider hitting the weights here and there.

all players are different. lack of culture and softness hurt marner more than anyone. im not even a marner fan but the guidance failed him

 

[Namikaze Minato]

Lol posters on the prospects boards are having a meltdown pretending we , the collective leafs fans, have compared Cowan to Bedard "And not just stylistically, but actual comparisons."

Good lord, are we ever lucky to have true hockey fans police our expectations or who knows what comparisons we could make!

 

[robertmac43]

His playoffs have been incredible to watch despite hating London lol.

 

[horner]

Neither was Marner in junior. Just saying.

I watched marner in junior I thought Doug Gilmour when he matured NOPE
He was tenacious played with Tkachuk.
when they brought in Marleau it all changedvi think.

 

[LDN]

Neither was Marner in junior. Just saying.

What changed though?!

 

[ULF_55]

Kreider is 6’3 230 and had a video of him jumping out of a pool in waist height water before he came in to the NHL, that’s not something you get putting in work in the offseason. He’s Ovechkin size/explosiveness just minus the brain hands and shot.

Don’t get me wrong I’d love for Cowan to have a random growth spurt like that but you’re not playing a Kreider netfront/forecheck game at a generous 190. If he gets to an Acciari bulldog size in a few years that’s already a win.

Yeah, we'd all love to have a Kreider, but Cowan seems to be headed in the right direction and it will be a homerun for many of the compares given.

Afinogenov? Still would be a good pick.