The first day of the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp has concluded, and head coach Jim Hiller is very pleased with how a number of his players performed and worked.
Toronto’s bench boss revealed that one player who really caught his attention was 21-year-old Easton Cowan. Cowan, who was positioned on the right wing next to Colton Sissons and Nick Paul, was all over the ice in Hiller’s eyes.
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“If I just had to say ‘who was the player that just jumped out at you in this morning’s session,’ to me it would be Easton Cowan,” Hiller said. “He makes some plays with the puck, but he was a puck hound. He was everywhere, I thought.”
Cowan is entering his sophomore year in the NHL. Last season, he recorded 11 goals and 29 points in 66 games, averaging 14:43 of ice time per game.
Coming into the league, he was seen as a playmaking forward, especially from his days with the OHL’s London Knights, winning two OHL titles, a Memorial Cup, and collecting MVP awards in both the regular season and playoffs.
But with a year under his belt with the Maple Leafs to this point, he’s providing another dimension to his game.
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“We talked to him about that,” the bench boss said. “He’s got tremendous skill, but where he can help us best is be a puck hound and then use that skill. And to me, he was all over the ice.”
Hiller later added who stood out to him from the second group on Thursday. The second group was mainly filled with players from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
“I thought Groulx, Lettieri and Mermis,” he listed as three that impressed him. “Those three were so dialled in and worked so hard and were complete pros out there. That’s really what jumped out of me. And it wasn’t one, it was all three of those guys. I was like, wow, did they set the tone for this group. So you hope it goes that way, but you never know. So those three in the second.”
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Groulx and Mermis both featured for the Leafs last season.
Groulx played 13 games for the Maple Leafs last season, registering three goals and five points. Mermis featured in 11 appearances, providing one assist.
Lettieri hasn’t featured in the NHL for Toronto yet, but he led the American League in scoring during the Calder Cup playoffs. He scored 11 goals and 26 points for the Marlies in that run.
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