Leafs player slips up and confirms the McKenna rumour in stunning fashion

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Jonathan Ouimet
May 11, 2026  (11:16 PM)

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Photo credit: Imagn

Easton Cowan dropped a quote Monday that Toronto Maple Leafs fans aren't going to forget anytime soon.

The 20-year-old rookie was asked about Gavin McKenna, the consensus top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Cowan didn't dance around it.

"He's got that swagger. He's a good player, he's confident, and he has a ton of skill." That's Cowan, openly telling reporters his friend would thrive in Toronto.

Cowan said the two stayed in contact after Team Canada's World Juniors run. The friendship is real. The pitch is unmistakable.

Now read the room. The Leafs finished 32-36-14 for 78 points and 28th overall. They lost 7 straight to close the regular season.

Craig Berube's first year ended with a missed playoff bracket and a lottery seat. That's the Toronto reality Cowan was talking around.

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The math here is hard. Toronto needs the lottery balls to bounce to land McKenna, and the odds at 28th don't favor that outcome.

But Cowan saying out loud that his friend could handle this market does something.

It tells the fan base the young core in this room is buying into where this is going.

The rookie himself put up 11 goals and 18 assists across 66 games.

Nothing flashy, but he played meaningful minutes on a team that ran out of answers.

His minus-5 reflects the broader collapse more than his individual play.

Toronto's defense gave up 299 goals this season, near the bottom of the league.

That's the team McKenna would walk into. Not a contender. Not even a fringe playoff group.

A rebuild that just shed a Cup window's worth of expectations.

McKenna's name carries the kind of weight that hasn't been in a Toronto draft conversation in years. The franchise hasn't picked this high in a long time.

The Cowan comment will get clipped, retweeted, and remixed all summer. That's how the Toronto market works. One quote becomes the whole offseason narrative.

Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving have a different reality to manage. They can't draft a player they don't pick.

The lottery comes first. Cowan's pitch is cute. The balls don't care.

Previously

Bloodbath in Minnesota and MacKinnon is at the center of it

Josh Manson could face a major suspension after the dirtiest play of the playoffs

Major twist shakes up Edmonton Oilers head coach position

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7 HOURS AGO   |   164 ANSWERS Leafs player slips up and confirms the McKenna rumour in stunning fashion Could Gavin McKenna actually handle the Toronto Maple Leafs market as a rookie ?

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▢    No

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