Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna will force the Maple Leafs into another trade

The two young guns of Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna need as much exposure as possible to grow as superstars, and that means a veteran will be forced out.

For years, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a Core Four that was arguably built up of some of the best players in the world, but nothing really materialized in terms of success. One of them is gone in Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews is here for now but that's not a guarantee, and John Tavares is only getting older despite still putting up great numbers.

That leaves William Nylander as the only real superstar who the team may have in a couple years that is built for the NHL grind and someone who can help run the offence that will suddenly look a lot different than we're used to.

They have two players who can easily step into that role though in Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna, but with them bring 21 and 18 respectively; that's a tall order for a couple of young kids.

Which is why it's so important that in 2026-27, the Maple Leafs make sure they give them every chance to succeed, even if that comes with failure.

Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna need regular NHL minutes

As we saw with Cowan last year (though that could be due to more needing him than a straight-up choice), if we throw the kids to the wolves, they can find a way to survive. Was Cowan's first year perfect? No, but he put up 29 points, 72 hits, averaged nearly 15 minutes a night, and towards the end of the year was a spark plug that scrapped with anything and anyone.

McKenna is a prodigy who just had 310 points over his last 3.5 seasons between the WHL, NCAA and WJC so if you're trying to see what he can offer, you kind of need to make sure he's out there as much as possible. He'll immediately slot into the lineup and could be a factor; flirting with 100-point seasons throughout his career.

While Cowan's future isn't exactly set in stone given that Toronto added a lot of middle-to-bottom six forwards this summer, but perhaps it's time to trust him.

With the cap against them and still needed a top-six player, why not let Cowan line up alongside John Tavares and William Nylander? Don't expect 80 points but a 55-60 point campaign is absolutely respectable.

Toronto may need a trade to create room for both young forwards

But in order to give them as much time as possible, even in the top-nine, that means that a veteran who is currently slogging away may not have a spot. Steven Lorentz is a candidate but with him being Sergei Bobrovsky's go-to guy and a fairly solid PK performer, he's likely sticking around.

That leaves a couple players who could leave. Max Domi is injured and a giant question mark heading into the season but he's going to likely be an LTIR placement and isn't a factor in the lineup anyhow.

Dakota Joshua seems to be the one who is likeliest to get traded. Coming in last season, he played decent enough but was derailed by a lacerated kidney and by the time he returned the season was all but done for Toronto.

He's fairly pricey too for a fourth-liner, and while he has shown shades of offence, with the additions the team made already on top of needing to give Cowan and McKenna exposure - his job is in jeopardy.

Nothing against the forward, but he came in under Brad Treliving and right now the team is doing everything in their power to rid themselves of any part of the old guard. Joshua is part of that on top of being expendable now.

You want to have Cowan and McKenna thriving at every opportunity. Power-play, tight games, whatever; they need their merit tested as much as possible.

Toronto can absolutely give them as much opportunity as possible though it will come at the cost of a veteran who never really got his foot in the door before being pushed out.

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