Maple Leafs prospects Cowan, Minten make Canada’s World Juniors roster
Posted December 13, 2023 8:25 pm.
Last Updated December 13, 2023 8:26 pm.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have two players representing Canada at the upcoming 2024 World Juniors tournament.
Centre Fraser Minten and winger Easton Cowan made the final roster on Wednesday.
Minten and Cowan are the first Maple Leafs prospects on Team Canada’s World Juniors roster since goaltender Ian Scott in 2019 and the first Canadian skaters since Mitch Marner and Travis Dermott in 2016.
Hockey Canada had the option of keeping a 13th forward but instead chose to leave that spot open in hopes that an NHL team would release a player before the team played its first exhibition game.
Minten, 19, was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the second round (38th overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft from the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The Vancouver, B.C. native had a terrific pre-season with Toronto and surprisingly made the team, appearing in four NHL games before being re-assigned to the WHL.
Minten was recently traded from Kamloops to Saskatoon and currently has five goals and 15 points across 13 WHL games.
Cowan, 18, was selected by the Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft (28th overall) from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Born and raised in Strathroy, Ont., Cowan is considered one of Toronto’s best prospects with 12 goals, 27 assists and 39 points across 23 games with the Knights this season.
Canada doesn’t have any returning players from the 2023 tournament who are currently in the NHL, with Connor Bedard (Chicago), Adam Fantilli (Columbus) and Kevin Korchinski (Chicago) all playing big roles for their teams.
Matthew Poitras (Boston), Zach Benson (Buffalo) and Shane Wright (Seattle/AHL), the other eligible players playing professionally, have yet to be made available by their teams.
Canada heads to Europe on Thursday, with the first pre-tournament game set for Tuesday against Denmark’s under-25 team.
The Canadians will then meet Switzerland on Dec. 22 and the United States the following day before opening their world juniors on Dec. 26 against Finland at Gothenburg’s Scandinavium arena.
With files from The Canadian Press
