The 19-year-old is coming off an MVP season with the London Knights and is pushing for a spot with the Leafs this season.
There's a lot of hope that Easton Cowan makes the Maple Leafs out of training camp, but the team isn't giving any freebies away ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Cowan is one of several players looking to crack the roster on the left wing, but he's up against Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Bobby McMann, Max Pacioretty, Nick Robertson, and potentially others.
However, with Fraser Minten making the team out of training camp last year as a 19-year-old, it shows that there's always a possibility that the unlikely happens.
"Well, he's going to come out and — this guy's a worker. He's produced in junior, obviously, and has been very successful. But the one thing, watching the rookie games, this guy works. He's a competitor. He's a very competitive player," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Wednesday ahead of training camp which begins on Thursday.
"But in the end, he's got to be detailed. A lot of players coming out of junior hockey, they still have the junior habits. And he needs to show us that he doesn't have all the junior habits anymore."
When Minten made the team out of camp last year, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving this isn't a charity, and that if a player is good enough to play in the NHL with Toronto, they will.
Treliving shared those same sentiments on Wednesday when asked about the organization's prospects and whether there was enough runway to make the team out of camp.
"It's the NHL. If you can help us win, I don't care if you're 18 or you're 38, play well. Now, we do feel young players are coming. It's not just age, right?" Treliving said.
"I look at our team right now. I'm sure everybody's got the names on the map, who's playing what's who. We'll see. Let's be honest. Everybody talks about there's competition at camp, come win a job. Austion's going to be on the team. Mitch is going to be on the team. There's a few guys, three of them are going to be on the team. I haven't talked to Chief about it yet, but they're going to be on the team."
If Cowan — Toronto's first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft — doesn't make the Maple Leafs out of camp, he'd be ineligible to play for the AHL's Toronto Marlies as a 19-year-old.
The other option would be for Cowan to return to the London Knights where there is little for him to accomplish after a season that saw him named as the Ontario Hockey League's most outstanding player and playoffs MVP.
It's still too early to speculate on that front, but as Treliving said, there are plenty of players looking for a spot, and only a couple of jobs up for grabs.
"In my mind, Easton's pushing. Now, having said that, we all want to put them on the team in July and August. Preseason is one thing, regular season is a different thing," Treliving added on Wednesday.
