Easton Cowan joins brother Alex Nylander as Marlies open Calder Cup playoffs

Easton Cowan brought his NHL buzz straight into the Marlies’ playoff grind, and Toronto answered by putting him on a line with Alex Nylander as the Calder Cup push opened against Rochester.

Cowan and Alex Nylander were projected to skate with Ryan Tverberg in Game 1 on Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum, giving the Marlies a look that tied one of the organization’s top prospects to a recognized name at the exact moment the stakes turned real. Toronto opened the North Division first-round series against the Americans in a best-of-three format, with Game 2 set for Friday in Rochester and Game 3, if needed, back in Toronto on Sunday.

The setup gave Cowan a direct bridge from the NHL to the AHL postseason. Toronto reassigned him to the Marlies on April 17 along with Jacob Quillan, Luke Haymes, Ryan Tverberg, William Villeneuve and Dennis Hildeby after the Maple Leafs’ season ended, and Cowan had already been made playoff-eligible through a trade-deadline paper transaction. His rookie NHL season finished with 11 goals and 29 points in 66 games, while his first two Marlies regular-season appearances earlier in the year produced one assist.

The connection that has generated the most buzz is the one in the family group chat. Cowan said he texted William Nylander about having "chemistry," and William shot back that it is "easy to play with a Nylander." That line now extends into the playoffs because Alex Nylander and Cowan opened the series together, with William expected to remain in Toronto and watch the Marlies games from the crowd.

Alex Nylander said he and Cowan live together in Toronto, and he enters his fourth Calder Cup playoff run with a familiar voice nearby. He said William has been through multiple playoff runs with the Maple Leafs and can help guide him through the pressure that comes with an AHL spring run. For a Marlies club making its 15th postseason appearance, that kind of outside perspective comes with some value, especially in a series against Rochester, which finished fifth in the North Division while Toronto finished fourth and had to go through the opening round instead of drawing a bye.

The timing also fit Cowan’s recent form. In Toronto’s final tune-up weekend before the playoffs, he posted a goal, an assist and first-star honors in a 4-2 win over Laval. Bo Groulx called Cowan "our best player" and said the winger had grown a lot over the year, a notable endorsement for a player who was already being tracked as a potential difference-maker.

Cowan said the AHL postseason rhythm suits him because it is "either playing, practising or taking a day off and right back at it." For Toronto, the hope is that rhythm turns into production quickly, with Cowan and Alex Nylander giving the Marlies enough offense to make the first round more than a brief stop on the way to summer.