Easton Cowan appears to overtake 3 Leafs veterans in the lineup.

A young Toronto Maple Leaf may be causing quite a stir when it comes to his team's roster for the upcoming 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season.

On Monday morning, the Maple Leafs hit the ice for their first NHL-only practice of training camp thus far and fans and pundits alike were quick to notice some extremely interesting lineup decisions. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube appeared to show a lot of faith in young Maple Leafs rookie Easton Cowan, sliding him into the team's bottom six in lieu of some more experienced and more established veterans on the Maple Leafs lineup.

Cowan was slotted among the team's fourth line next to Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton, but perhaps even more interesting than that was who was slotted beneath him in the lineup.

Forming a 5th line during the team's practice on Monday were forwards Nicholas Robertson, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok, all 3 players who have been linked to trade rumors at various points during this most recent offseason.

Here is how the full lineup broke down on Monday:

Knies - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Tavares - Nylander
Maccelli - Roy - Joshua
Lorentz - Laughton - Cowan
Robertson - Kampf - Jarnkrok
Pezzetta

McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo
Ekman-Larsson - Benoit (non-contact)
Thrun - Myers
Mermis

Stolarz
Hildeby

As I mentioned many were quick to notice what in the grand scheme of things is only a relatively minor addition to the team's fourth line, but one that fans have been anticipating for a very long time.

Of course it is still too early to tell if this is how things will shake out once the regular season officially gets underway, but at a bare minimum this is a very good sign for Easton Cowan and a good sign that he has earned a measure of respect from Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube.