Easton Cowan heads into tonight's home date with Ottawa leading the Maple Leafs in scoring, and the trade chatter around him just got a lot quieter.
The Leafs had conversations about the 21-year-old this offseason. Then training camp opened, and the mood inside the building shifted.
"The word around Cowan was that he really impressed them," Elliotte Friedman said. "They really liked what they saw in training camp."
Per Friedman, the Leafs are very happy with the young forward and aren't looking to do anything with him right now. Funny what a serious summer does.
Two games into the regular season, the scouting report holds up. No. 53 has one goal, two assists and a +2 rating, tops on the team with 3 points.
And that goal counted for something. It came on the power play and went down as a game-winner, on a club with exactly one win so far.
That win was a 2-1 decision over the Islanders on September 30, the back end of a back-to-back that opened with a 3-2 loss to Montreal.
Toronto's leading scorer carries a $900,000 cap hit
Auston Matthews, who carries a $13,250,000 cap hit, is still looking for his first point. He's also a -2 through two games.
William Nylander has found the net twice. Gavin McKenna, all of 18 years old, is still waiting to hit the scoresheet.
The Leafs have scored just 4 goals in two games. Who exactly were they planning to replace his production with?
Shopping him now would be like listing your car the same week the engine finally stops rattling. You keep driving it.
Trading Cowan this fall would have been a bad trade, plain and simple. Cheap, young and productive is the exact profile contenders spend years chasing.
Jim Hiller, hired in June, didn't inherit many bargain answers on this roster. Cowan looks like one of the few.
The Senators come in for their season opener tonight. Then it's Nashville at home Tuesday before a road trip through Vegas, Colorado and Utah.
"I hesitate to say that guys are off the market because we've learned that nothing is ever guaranteed," Friedman added.
So the Leafs aren't looking, right now. If the points dry up on that western swing, how long before the phone starts ringing again?
-
Should the Maple Leafs take Easton Cowan off the trade market for good?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Brady Tkachuk cheap-shots Macklin Celebrini then gets rocked by Jacob Trouba
