Preseason: sens @ Leafs - Sept. 25th, 7:00pm - SN, Fan 590

[Guilt Trip]

They played that 2 on 2 so badly. Some things never change.

Gio played that bad but whatever...pre season

 

[gunnar36]

They played that 2 on 2 so badly. Some things never change.

Gio played that bad but whatever...pre season

That was my exact takeaway on the winner as well and I will continue to rag on Giordano until they finally realize that he is not a top 6 Dman anymore.

 

[ZBBM]

With the entire organization in obvious disarray, I think at this point we have to face up to the fact the O-Fer-September Keefe has it on cruise control with 2 more years of dough in his pocket.  Expect more disorganized, lackluster, preseason-quality efforts.

 

[Frank E]

With the entire organization in obvious disarray, I think at this point we have to face up to the fact the O-Fer-September Keefe has it on cruise control with 2 more years of dough in his pocket.  Expect more disorganized, lackluster, preseason-quality efforts.

Well, it is preseason...so you would expect the vets to stay away from going into the corners against the charging youngsters looking to make a mark.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

With the entire organization in obvious disarray, I think at this point we have to face up to the fact the O-Fer-September Keefe has it on cruise control with 2 more years of dough in his pocket.  Expect more disorganized, lackluster, preseason-quality efforts.

Would it kill them to at least TRY Guy Boucher at the head coach position?

 

[herman]

So Cowan's very pretty good.
[youtube]-IK8gsx1xrI[/youtube]
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2023/09/26/sheldon-keefe-post-game-senators-4-vs-leafs-3-ot-2/

Keefe: On the bench, I tried to talk myself out of playing him, to be honest. I have Matthews, Kampf, Holmberg ? these older guys that are here and need to get their minutes. But it was hard not to. Every minute that he was out there, he was making something happen.

I stopped talking myself out of it and started playing him more in the third.

Keefe makes it sound like Cowan as basically the top of our expected board all draft week (obviously Bedard, Fantilli etc weren't landing at 28).

He looks more comfortable, to my untrained eye, than some other highly touted picks in recent drafts.

Keefe also makes a mild, cheeky remark about PP1's overcomplicating of things.

 

[Highlander]

Cowan looks AHL capable already. The Brayden Point comp doesn?t feel that far off ? certainly applicable in style and mindset.

One of the best players on the ice, don't think he is going to be on the Knights for a long time. 

 

[herman]

Cowan looks AHL capable already. The Brayden Point comp doesn?t feel that far off ? certainly applicable in style and mindset.

One of the best players on the ice, don't think he is going to be on the Knights for a long time. 

Yeah, it might just be this coming season. The kid only has a partial season in Junior under his belt so far. I think he's going to get some first line winger or 1/2C duties with London.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Cowan looks AHL capable already. The Brayden Point comp doesn?t feel that far off ? certainly applicable in style and mindset.

One of the best players on the ice, don't think he is going to be on the Knights for a long time. 

Yeah, it might just be this coming season. The kid only has a partial season in Junior under his belt so far. I think he's going to get some first line winger or 1/2C duties with London.

He had a good game but thinking he might crack the NHL as a 19-year old next season is a bit much.

 

[Bender]

Cowan looks AHL capable already. The Brayden Point comp doesn?t feel that far off ? certainly applicable in style and mindset.

One of the best players on the ice, don't think he is going to be on the Knights for a long time. 

Yeah, it might just be this coming season. The kid only has a partial season in Junior under his belt so far. I think he's going to get some first line winger or 1/2C duties with London.

He had a good game but thinking he might crack the NHL as a 19-year old next season is a bit much.

Yeah, I mean it'd be great if he does but we also saw Nick Robertson and Denis Malgin look amazing in the pre-season last year.

 

[herman]

I say that because next season is the big overlap of heavy contracts and it really doesn?t look like junior will have much left to teach Cowan at 19 (no AHL).

 

[herman]

Beautiful setup and execution runs into a great save.

Next play is cashed by Marner off the plinko chaos (finally). Tie game with 4s to go.
https://twitter.com/mapleleafs/status/1706482427114217704

https://x.com/jhanhky/status/1706698586790957160

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I say that because next season is the big overlap of heavy contracts and it really doesn?t look like junior will have much left to teach Cowan at 19 (no AHL).

That's a massive stretch to say about someone who might not even be on Team Canada's radar for the WJCs this year.

 

[herman]

I say that because next season is the big overlap of heavy contracts and it really doesn?t look like junior will have much left to teach Cowan at 19 (no AHL).

That's a massive stretch to say about someone who might not even be on Team Canada's radar for the WJCs this year.

Canada has plenty of depth and no cap to choose from. Leafs, not so much.

Leafs depth on LW next season is: Knies, Abruzzese, Holmberg(ish), Voit, Hirvonen, with Robertson, Steeves, Ellis as RFA.

Yes, depth-LW one of the easiest positions to bargain bin shop for, but how many options are going to be <1M and not a lump of bricks under the bucket who can spell C and top-6 style duties? I think he hurdles Abruzzese, Voit, Steeves, Ellis easily.

AFTER ONE PRE-SEASON GAME (and prospect tournament) lol

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Canada has plenty of depth and no cap to choose from. Leafs, not so much.

Leafs depth on LW next season is: Knies, Abruzzese, Holmberg(ish), Voit, Hirvonen, with Robertson, Steeves, Ellis as RFA.

Yes, depth-LW one of the easiest positions to bargain bin shop for, but how many options are going to be <1M and not a lump of bricks under the bucket who can spell C and top-6 style duties? I think he hurdles Abruzzese, Voit, Steeves, Ellis easily.

AFTER ONE PRE-SEASON GAME (and prospect tournament) lol

If Treliving fails to sign any NHL-calibre left wingers like you're suggesting that will be a pretty catastrophic failure on his part. He won't be rushed into the NHL for that reason. And for whatever it's worth next season I'd guess we'll see one of Domi or Bertuzzi re-sign plus Tavares could be closer to being a full-time LW so add that to Knies and possibly Robertson and the LW depth isn't nearly as dire as it seems.

Fraser Minten earned absolutely rave reviews after his rookie tournament and first pre-season game last year too (while he didn't earn a point he was on the ice for all 4 Leafs goals and 0 against) before his camp was shut short due to injury. Fast forward a year and there's still obviously zero doubt about where he'll be playing this season. I think Cowan has a higher offensive upside but their junior paths will likely be pretty similar. And that will hopefully see both establish themselves as Canadian WJC caliber prospects in their 19-year old draft+2 seasons.

 

[herman]

If Treliving fails to sign any NHL-calibre left wingers like you're suggesting that will be a pretty catastrophic failure on his part. He won't be rushed into the NHL for that reason. And for whatever it's worth next season I'd guess we'll see one of Domi or Bertuzzi re-sign plus Tavares could be closer to being a full-time LW so add that to Knies and possibly Robertson and the LW depth isn't nearly as dire as it seems.

Fraser Minten earned absolutely rave reviews after his rookie tournament and first pre-season game last year too (while he didn't earn a point he was on the ice for all 4 Leafs goals and 0 against) before his camp was shut short due to injury. Fast forward a year and there's still obviously zero doubt about where he'll be playing this season. I think Cowan has a higher offensive upside but their junior paths will likely be pretty similar. And that will hopefully see both establish themselves as Canadian WJC caliber prospects in their 19-year old draft+2 seasons.

That's all very reasonable. But if Cowan rips 120+ pts with the Knights, think we give it an honest go.

There's a similarity to Marner's D-1 numbers in Cowan's draft year (offset by COVID) while playing on a less stacked team, with a higher offensive ceiling than Minten. It doesn't feel like rushing him (i.e. sheltered third line contributor).

 

[CarltonTheBear]

That's all very reasonable. But if Cowan rips 120+ pts with the Knights, think we give it an honest go.

Well if Cowen scores 120 points in the OHL this season I'll buy a Leafs jersey with his name on it, even if it'll be a crappy new Fanatics one.

 

[L K]

You obviously still need to have a lot of skill/potential but early preseason seems like the kind of hockey geared to a kid like Cowen.  He's a work ethic guy.  Early preseason is a mishmash of random lines, established NHLers and AHL fodder.  The NHL guys are using this time to get into game shape rather than go all out.  The AHL fodder guys are going to be closer in NHL skill level to a rookie coming off a shortened OHL career.  Cowen's motor will play well in early preseason.  I like what he did so far and getting rave reviews from coaches is never a bad thing but I'll be more impressed if he keeps looking good later in camp once the pros start to push to be a little more at NHL regular season pace.