Leafs prospect Easton Cowan sets London Knights record after 34th straight game with a point

Cowan’s ongoing point streak in the OHL has been well-documented over the past couple of months, and on Sunday, he etched his name into the history books of arguably the most storied franchise in the league. With two assists in London’s 7-4 victory over the Windsor Spitfires, he set a Knights franchise record for the longest point streak in their 59-year history. Although already impressive to begin with, the record is even crazier when the amount of star players that the Knights have produced is taken into consideration – among those names are Patrick Kane, Mitch Marner, and Corey Perry.

A native of Mount Brydges, Ontario, Cowan was selected by the Maple Leafs at 28th overall in the first round last season. As stated above, the pick was seen as a bit of a reach at the time – he wasn’t projected to be selected until the third round, or maybe the back half of the second round at best. It was somewhat unknown what the Leafs were going to do with the pick at the time, given that it was the first draft with new general manager Brad Treliving at the helm. Amidst speculation over whether they would trade the pick or keep it, it was revealed that they would be using the pick, with Treliving allowing Leafs’ director of scouting Wes Clark and his team to handle the selection. When Clark announced his name on stage, the camera panned to the furthest corner of Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, indicating that neither he nor his family were expecting to hear his name called that day. With how loud the excited screams coming from the Cowan collective were, though, they might as well have been seated in the front row.

Cowan took a bit of an unconventional route to where he is today. Having spent the majority of the 2021-22 season with the Junior B Komoka Kings and only appearing in seven games with the Knights, last season was technically his rookie year. His 53 points in 68 games didn’t immediately jump off the board upon looking at his Elite Prospects page for the first time, but his 33 points in 37 games in the second half of the season and his 21 points in 20 playoff games for the Knights suggested that there was more to his game than what the stat sheet said at first glance. In 2023-24, that proved to be the case. His point streak has him up to 32 goals and 92 points in 52 games on the season. While he’s not the tallest player on the ice at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, he’s still only 18 years old and plays much bigger than his game. His motor is the primary reason that Toronto was interested in him, and Clark even hinted at the idea that if the Leafs didn’t take him at 28th overall, a number of other teams would have grabbed him before he fell to the Leafs again.

With Auston Matthews and William Nylander both getting raises next season in addition to Mitch Marner and John Tavares heading into the final year of their contracts, the Leafs are going to be a little more cap-crunched than usual, and will likely be relying on cheap contracts to fill out their depth a little more than usual. This could make for a good opportunity for Cowan, at least to get his nine-game trial in with the team like they gave Fraser Minten this season.

Cowan will look to extend his historic point streak to 35 games on Friday when the Knights host the Spitfires again.