Maple Leafs' highly touted prospect will not participate in Team Canada's on-ice training camp due to injury
It appears that Team Canada will have to do without the Leafs' top prospect Easton Cowan, as he suffered a serious injury last Friday during an OHL game.
Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan has been invited to Canada's selection camp for the 2025 World Junior Championship but will not take part in on-ice activities as a precautionary measure, Hockey Canada announced on Monday morning.
Easton Cowan was the victim of an open-ice hit from Oshawa Generals defenceman Zackary Sandhu during the second period of the Generals' 5-3 win over the London Knights on Friday night. No penalty was called on the play and Cowan didn't return to the game.
Despite the setback, Cowan made history earlier in the game as his first-period goal extended his regular-season point streak to 56 games, breaking the Ontario Hockey League record of 55 games set by Doug Gilmour with the Cornwall Royals in the 1982-83 season.
Though Gilmour's streak occurred in a single season and remains the official OHL record, Cowan's began on November 25, 2023, against the Barrie Colts.
Hockey Canada has also added Anaheim Ducks prospect and Oshawa Generals forward Beckett Sennecke to the camp roster.
The selection camp opens Tuesday at TD Place in Ottawa and will feature two exhibition games against Canadian university all-stars on Thursday and Friday.
Cowan, who played for Canada at last year's World Juniors in Sweden, is one of the favorites to crack this year's roster as well and the event gets underway later this month in Ottawa.
In his 19-year-old season, the forward has recorded 28 points in 20 games with the Knights, including 15 goals and 13 assists. He has missed four games with a lower-body injury before returning last Wednesday, but then injuring himself again two days later.
Since being selected 28th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, Cowan's development has been closely watched, and he's expected to compete for a spot on the Maple Leafs' roster next September.
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