being sent to the American Hockey League by the Leafs last week<\/a>.<\/p>\nCOWAN\u2019S NEXT STEP<\/p>\n
Chin up, eyes forward.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no other way Cowan would proceed after a solid 10-game start with the Leafs wasn\u2019t enough to keep him in the National Hockey League. Truth be told, if not for salary-cap issues, Cowan could win an argument that he should still be with the Leafs.<\/p>\n
He had one goal and three assists and was leading the Leafs with five penalties drawn at five-on-five when he was demoted.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo (frustration), none at all,\u201d Cowan said on Tuesday after the Marlies practised at the Ford Performance Centre. \u201cI\u2019m not worried about stuff I can\u2019t control. Getting better every day, keep putting a good mindset forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether I\u2019m here (with the Marlies) or there (with the Leafs), I\u2019m positive, being a good teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The time with the Leafs) went really good. I felt really good, felt like I was prepared for the league and I know I can play there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea is that Cowan will play approximately 17-18 minutes a game with the Marlies. He\u2019s on the top line right now with captain Logan Shaw and fellow veteran Travis Boyd, getting his fair share of offensive-zone starts and is in the thick of power-play plans.<\/p>\n
With the Leafs, Cowan could lean on teammates such John Tavares and Morgan Rielly for guidance.<\/p>\n
With the Marlies, the 33-year-old Shaw is invested in that role. As the Leafs\u2019 top prospect, Cowan\u2019s development is paramount, something that\u2019s not lost on Shaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these young guys now know a lot about the game, they do a lot of video, a lot of studying,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s about letting him make plays, teaching him, letting him enjoy the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe there to support him and don\u2019t let him get hard on himself. If he makes mistakes, it\u2019s all right. We\u2019ll live to fight another day, just be consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
That theme is shared by Marlies coach John Gruden. The Leafs know what they have in Cowan in regard to his offensive skills. The numbers, presumably, will come.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the consistency and understanding that there\u2019s certain things that he can get away with at the junior level that you aren\u2019t going to get away with, even at our level here in the AHL,\u201d Gruden said. \u201cOnce he understands the straight lines and being above the puck, that if you put yourself in a better defensive position, you\u2019re probably going to find the puck under stick even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice for him to come down and understand that he wants to work on his game. It\u2019s definitely a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge for Cowan is hitting the reset button where adjustment is concerned. It\u2019s a large jump, obviously, to the NHL from junior hockey. Now, it\u2019s about making the transition to playing in a league where there\u2019s less structure than in the NHL, where Cowan was demonstrating that he was getting comfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s making plays in tight areas, which sometimes might be harder in this league because it\u2019s a little hectic, a little more chaos,\u201d said Shaw, a veteran of 232 NHL games with five teams. \u201cGuys aren\u2019t always where they\u2019re supposed to be, so it makes it harder to try to read plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Leafs were having their pre-game naps on Tuesday afternoon in Boston before taking on the Bruins, Cowan and the rest of the Marlies were on the team\u2019s two buses and headed west, bound for Grand Rapids, Mich.<\/p>\n
The Marlies and Griffins will meet in a school-day game on Wednesday and will face off again on Friday night. The Marlies will return home on the weekend before finishing their string of eight consecutive road games next Wednesday in Belleville.<\/p>\n
All the while, Cowan will do what comes naturally \u2014 work and make an impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes our team better,\u201d Gruden said. \u201cWe\u2019re here to help him get where he wants to get down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
SHAW\u2019S ADVICE<\/p>\n
Shaw hasn\u2019t played in the NHL since Jan. 1, 2022, with the Ottawa Senators.<\/p>\n
That absence from the NHL hasn\u2019t taken a shot at his love of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know where I\u2019m at in my career,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cI want to be the best that I can be, but the joy that I used to get in getting called up, I get that now when other guys get called up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to push the young guys to be the best because I still want to be the best, and I still want to push myself to make sure I\u2019m getting better every day. The way that these young guys can play now, it definitely helps me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get sent down, it\u2019s not always for the way you play, but there\u2019s something that you can work on in your game and try to get better and fix.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, after his 15-year, 20-year NHL career, (Cowan) looks back and says, \u2018I needed that time with the Marlies to help get me here.\u2019 If you can take the positives out of it, you\u2019ll go a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gruden and his staff, the value of having player such as Shaw isn\u2019t underestimated. Others who had a similar role before Shaw included Rich Clune and Kyle Clifford. Clune now is an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins while Clifford is a key member of the Leafs\u2019 development staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor (Shaw) to give some insight to Easton, it\u2019s probably going to be even more important than any of the coaches,\u201d Gruden said. \u201cIt\u2019s huge. Logan been around a long time. He sets a good example for our team, and he definitely sets the example for a player like Easton.\u201d<\/p>\n
tkoshan@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\nX: @koshtorontosun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of our Maple Leafs coverage at the Toronto Sun, we\u2019re keeping tabs on the club\u2019s prospects,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[30272,3333,49,48,755,23385,126601,62510,126603,35479,126602,48555,72244,448,744,753,126604,82,746,38658,88985],"class_list":["post-277133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-american-hockey-league","tag-boston","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-easton-cowan","tag-john-gruden","tag-john-tavares","tag-kent-johnson","tag-kyle-clifford","tag-logan-shaw","tag-morgan-rielly","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-rich-clune","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-toronto-marlies","tag-travis-boyd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}