John Tavares heaps praises on Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan despite Canada's elimination from World Juniors

Toronto Maple Leafs assistant captain John Tavares had some words of wisdom for Easton Cowan after the latter’s elimination from the World Juniors for the second year in a row. The senior player said he empathized with the 19-year-old Maple Leafs prospect.

Tavares won back-to-back World Junior Championships with Canada in 2008 and 2009. He was all praise for Cowan:

"Someone like Easton's got tremendous potential and is going to play a significant role with the team and the club for a long time and be a very good player,” Tavares said via The Hockey News. “So, it's never easy for him or all those kids with that opportunity to play for Canada, play on home soil, and to just not go the way you wanted it to go.”

Cowan and Team Canada faced harsh criticism from fans. John Tavares, on the other hand, has a lot of experience dealing with negative backlash and urged Cowan to learn from the experience.

"Every player goes through adversity at different points of their career, and it's really an opportunity for growth and to get better and to learn from it. No doubt he'll be surrounded by a lot of great people, certainly us in here support him tremendously," he added.

Czechia knocked Canada out of the World Juniors for the second straight year. Canada underperformed during the group stage as well, losing to Latvia and the United States.

Easton Cowan had one goal and two assists, tied for the best individual record of any Canadian player in the tournament.

Elliott Friedman agrees with John Tavares about Easton Cowan’s prospects

Sportsnet’s hockey pundit Elliott Friedman spoke about Cowan on the FAN590 radio show on Friday.

"I know Cowan really struggled the last couple of weeks, but I think you’re insane if you’re giving up on this kid based on two bad weeks," Friedman said, via Leafslatest. "I see people saying, 'Oh, they should trade him.' Number one, his value will never be lower than it is now. And number two, I think it’s bananas to give up on someone you really think highly of based on two bad weeks."

Easton Cowan is set to return to the London Knights in the OHL for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. He had joined the Maple Leafs for their preseason but had been sent back to London before the opening-day roster announcement.