Maple Leafs rookie Easton Cowan won’t cower from rough stuff

Now that rookie Easton Cowan is in the Maple Leafs lineup, it’s up to his older teammates to have his back. Article content

It’s natural that the eye lingers in the aftermath of any physical altercation with Cowan and bigger veteran NHLers as he’s a tempting target. Article content Article content

He’s important to Toronto’s first line and the opposition will test his ability to jump from junior to The Show without any AHL acclimatization.

“He’s a smaller guy (just under six feet, depending on who you ask), but not afraid to go into those dirty areas,” Auston Matthews said on Thursday morning before facing the New York Rangers. “He obviously took a couple of kind of cheap hits (in Tuesday’s 7-4 win over Nashville) stuff like that, but he’s deceptively a lot stronger than he looks.”