2024 NHL Draft player profile: Dawson Cowan, Spokane Chiefs

Dawson Cowan is one of the top goaltenders to watch at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

But he’s already proven that where you’re picked doesn’t determine your outcome- if you’re picked at all.

The Warren, Man. product was a dedicated, but admittedly small netminder in his early years.

Despite his raw talent and work ethic, he’d have to break into major junior hockey the hard way after going unselected in the WHL Prospects Draft.

He says he wouldn’t change a thing.

“It was always my dream to play in the Western League as a kid in Western Canada,” Cowan said. “Once I went undrafted there I always took it as motivation to prove teams wrong and show them what they missed out on, and I think I’m doing that.

No one is going to outwork me and I’m going to do everything in my power to be the best version of myself that day.”

After catching the eye of the Winnipeg ICE and earning some reps as a backup, Cowan has found a new home in the Spokane Chiefs’ crease.

He went 18-20-2-1 in his first season as a starting netminder in the WHL, posting a 3.59 goals-against average and .899 save percentage while facing an average of 34 shots per game.

Cowan also made waves by scoring the tenth goalie goal in WHL history and adding an assist in a 5-2 win over the Portland Winterhawks on November 26, 2023.

The strong performance helped him snag an invitation to the 2024 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Moncton, N.B.

“He made really big strides coming here,” Chiefs General Manager Matt Bardsley said. “He’s a solid technical goaltender. He’s not always running around trying to make the highlight-reel save, but knowing that he has the athleticism and the quickness, he’s the type of goaltender that can make a side-to-side or diving save if he needs to.”

More often than not, those wild stops have made many highlight reels and spread across social media like wildfire.

Cowan’s efforts have also caught the eye of NHL Central Scouting, which has ranked him fifth among North American Goaltenders in its final rankings ahead of the draft, which runs from June 28-29 in Las Vegas, Nev.

He’s proud of the recognition, but even happier with just how far his game has developed- and stayed the same.

“My whole game has probably changed,” Cowan added. “My mindset, how I play the game, my structure being more technical or faster. But I think the biggest thing that hasn’t changed is just loving the game and having fun being a kid and in practice and in games, too. My love for the game just continues to grow as I get older.”

Team staff also point to Cowan as a multi-talented, high-character individual.

The netminder was one of four Chiefs players to help sort 400 pounds worth of donations after a clothing drive for a local charity benefiting young people across Washington and Northern Idaho.

Bardsley also recalls a day after an ice session where Cowan packed up several dozen leftover sandwiches from the team lunch and spent an afternoon handing them out to unhoused people around Spokane.

“Around every corner, there’s somebody that needs some help or needs some food or is going through something,” Cowan explained. “Anytime you see that you feel grateful for what you have and want to express how you can help them in any way.”

All the more reason for people to cheer if Cowan walks the stage at the Sphere in two weeks’ time.