Top Maple Leafs prospect leaves game after taking huge blindside hit

The Leafs forward prospect was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when he got hit by Oshawa Generals defenseman Zack Sandhu.

Unfortunately, Cowan had his head down and did not see the much bigger player coming at him to make a hit.

Making matters worse is the fact that it was an awkward collision, sending both players to the ice.

In fact, Sandhu appeared to get the worst of it, but both players were clearly shaken up.

Both of them would end up leaving the game early.

Luckily, Cowan did score a powerplay goal earlier in the game.

This extended his regular-season point streak to a whopping 56 games.

Coincidentally, this marked a new OHL record.

With a point in 56 straight regular-season games, Cowan passed Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour for the longest point streak in OHL history.

Of course, this does not mean Cowan is guaranteed to be a Hall of Famer, but it does bode well for him.

Certainly, the Maple Leafs have been very pleased with his development since the 2023 draft.

The Knights have not given us an update on Cowan's status at this point but he did not return to the game.

In 20 games this season, Cowan has 15 goals and 28 points. He had 34 goals and 96 points in 54 games last season. He also had 10 goals and 34 points in 18 playoff games.

The World Junior Championship is less than a month away so hopefully Cowan will be able to make a full recovery and represent Canada by then.