It's great to see such level headed evaluation of a prospect from a staff member, no less.
Honestly, the people complaining about Cowen should go out and tear their knee apart and try to run in a year, much less play hockey at the highest level and see how you do.
18 months, people. I don't care what the prognosis is for an early return. Just because the knee is healed enough for you to be able to participate in games and complete rehabilitation does not mean your knee is totally back to tip top shape. It takes a good six months even after all the "healing" has taken place for you to be even close to the level you were before the injury. There are some aspects of movement that you never recover, but throwing the gauntlet down after roughly 10 months after an operation to repair the MCL, ACL, and tears in the meniscus is laughable.
I am not here to sway anybody one way or the other in regards to Cowen's place on the team and if he should be there or not, but to make such outlandish statements like "bust" and this is just woefully premature and ridiculously typical of the knee jerk populace of prospect watchers that think a guy is worth nothing unless he's in the NHL the year after he's drafted or dominates in the WJC that year.
By the time Cowen is assigned to Bingo, he'll be ready to play hockey again. His conditioning will need work, but physically his knee should be good by then. If the Sens were smart, they would shut him down after his junior season, get him in a workout program, and have him debut next season in the AHL after many months of steady stability building knee workouts. He'll get that speed back but it takes time.