Maple Leafs sign first-round pick to entry-level contract

The Mount Brydges, Ontario, product registered 20 goals and 33 assists for 53 points in 68 games last season with the Knights. He added an additional nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 20 OHL playoff games. Cowan was named to the OHL’s 2022-23 Second All-Rookie Team.

The year prior, Cowan played Junior B hockey in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) with the Komoka Wings, where he scored 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points in 24 games. He appeared in seven OHL games with the Knights during the regular season and five playoff games, recording two assists.

“After spending last year in Jr. B, Cowan exploded for 20 goals and 53 points this year. He played his best hockey during the playoffs, though, recording 21 points in 20 games. And it feels like he’s just scratching the surface, which could make Cowan an excellent value pick,” Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis wrote before the draft.

Cowan was one of three players selected by the Maple Leafs’ new regime at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville. Toronto selected Hudson Malinoski from the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) and Noah Chadwick of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Cowan is expected to be at training camp.

As Daily Faceoff senior contributor Matt Larkin said, “Now, the Leafs wait to see if their guy becomes what they think he’ll become. A hostile takeover as a star OHLer wire to wire next season would be a good place to start. A few years from now, we may look back on this pick as a home run — or a strikeout.”