Easton Cowan of the London Knights has been named the Ontario Hockey League’s Red Tilson Trophy winner as the league’s Most Outstanding Player.
The Toronto Maple Leafs first-round pick in 2024 went on an offensive tear in 2023-24, unlike anything the league has seen since the mid-1990s.
The winger from Mt. Brydges, Ontario recorded at least one point in every game between Nov. 25, 2023 and March 24, 2024, putting together a 36-game point streak that ranked as the longest point streak since Bill Bowler of the Windsor Spitfires amassed a 41-game point streak in 1994-95. Add the playoffs and Cowan’s streak went one game better than Bowler’s.
Cowan ended the year with the second-best points per game total in the OHL after he scored 34 goals and recorded 96 points in 54 games. He also represented Canada at the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship in Sweden.
He helped London to a first-place finish in the regular season. The Knights are currently in the middle of the Western Conference championship series against the Saginaw Spirit.
Cowan is the first London Knights player to win the Red Tilson honour since Mitch Marner in 2016 and the sixth player in Knights history joining Marner, Dennis Maruk, Dave Simpson, Jason Allison, Corey Perry and Michael Houser.
“It’s pretty cool,” admitted Cowan. “I couldn’t have done it without this team and everyone within the organization so I’m really thankful.”
Cowan was one of two second-round picks by London in 2021 alongside Oliver Bonk. London general manager Mark Hunter liked Cowan’s work ethic from the start.
“It’s really a credit to him and the effort he has put in and the time he has put in on ice and off ice,” said Hunter. “You talk about skill and speed and all that good stuff but will means a lot.”
He played one year with the Komoka Kings in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League before joining the Knights full-time last season where Cowan helped them to get to the 2023 OHL Championship series.
Cowan’s major junior career has not been long but in reflecting back he looked at what it has meant to play in London.
“It’s close to home and obviously the Hunters and everyone in this organization knows what they are doing,” Cowan described. “I really just trusted the process. I believed in them and they believed in me.”
OHL writers and broadcasters vote on the winner of the Red Tilson Trophy each year. It is is named for former Oshawa Generals forward Red Tilson, who was killed while serving in the Second World War.
Tilson led the Generals to two league championships and was the top scorer in 1942-43 in what was then the Ontario Hockey Association.