Player Discussion Dylan Cozens

[NyQuil]

The only other place I've seen Cozens play at the senior level is at the World Championships.

He's got 24 points in 20 games including a whopping 16 goals.

Obviously we don't have much of a sample away from Buffalo but there is some reason for optimism IMO in a new setting.

 

[PlayOn]

We're not Habs fans and Cozens ain't Laine. Those are extreme examples that have no comparables lol

I'm still looking at Cozens being a downgrade from Norris, but it enabled us to add Zetterlund as well. My hope is that Cozens brings a different style that is a better fit for what we need, and maybe he'll thrive in a differently structured system with less pressure being a go to guy to get a perpetually floundering team over a hump they've been stuck on over a decade.

And who knows, maybe playoff push pressure is something that will help him. He has thrived in international tournaments.

One thing I will say is that even though Detroit was playing like they had everything to lose last night - it was a critical game for them - it was still uncharacteristic for Ottawa to get caved in so much against an average team. Tough to say but perhaps if Norris was still here, that wouldn't have been the case?

Norris doesn’t really drive possession though. He’s great defending when the other team has the puck because he’s so smart, a great skater and has a good stick but he’s not really gonna be the guy that stops you from being hemmed in so much as he’ll give you a big clear when you need it.

I also thought Batherson was the weak link on that line anyway last night… not to pile on him, but he continues to struggle. So unless it keeps occurring I wouldn’t read too much into one game.

 

[SlapJack]

Norris doesn’t really drive possession though. He’s great defending when the other team has the puck because he’s so smart, a great skater and has a good stick but he’s not really gonna be the guy that stops you from being hemmed in so much as he’ll give you a big clear when you need it.

I also thought Batherson was the weak link on that line anyway last night… not to pile on him, but he continues to struggle. So unless it keeps occurring I wouldn’t read too much into one game.

It's not so much the driving possession part I was thinking of, more about that defensive awareness and intelligence to be in a better position to limit rushes, or go to where you need to be when things get hairy.

Detroit played like it was a game 7 though, likely didn't matter much in the big picture

 

[Yak]

Certainly glad he got off to a good start in his first games. It's always nice when they have some instant success and it takes a little pressure off of them. It was nice to see him out there, hitting everything that moved and getting some points and some instant confidence. I am sure it will go a long way and keep him energized during our playoff chase.

 

[Tuna99]

Improved production with an improved system. He’s going to be a regular 65 point C for us.

And he wants to score, you can see he has a hunger for scoring but he doesn’t cheat

 

[starling]

Cozens was named one of the stars in each of the 3 games he played.

 

[Micklebot]

Only one hit last night....

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Only one hit last night....

The Wuss from Whitehorse.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Only one hit last night....

I clocked it. And it was actually a hard hit

 

[Blotto71]

I clocked it. And it was actually a hard hit

But did he almost miss the net or snipe a corner when he scored?

 

[Hale The Villain]

The nice thing is with the cap going up significantly and Cozens being a largely injury-free guy, he won't need to put up 1st line numbers to justify his salary.

If he continues to work hard, be a handful on the forecheck, get 150+ hits and produce 50-60P a year, that's pretty much worth 7.1M a year in a couple years when the cap is projected to be 25M higher.

Much less risk than Norris, who'll be making an average of 8.6M in actual salary (which unfortunately still matters for us with no new arena built yet) and can't be counted on to play more than 50 games a season.

 

[Blotto71]

The nice thing is with the cap going up significantly and Cozens being a largely injury-free guy, he won't need to put up 1st line numbers to justify his salary.

If he continues to work hard, be a handful on the forecheck, get 150+ hits and produce 50-60P a year, that's pretty much worth 7.1M a year in a couple years when the cap is projected to be 25M higher.

Much less risk than Norris, who'll be making an average of 8.6M in actual salary (which unfortunately still matters for us with no new arena built yet) and can't be counted on to play more than 50 games a season.

Shhhhhh! Buffalo fans are having a tough enough time with this trade as it is!

 

[Hale The Villain]

Shhhhhh! Buffalo fans are having a tough enough time with this trade as it is!

Be understanding of their plight, we just got rid of our terrible GM but they are still stuck with theirs.

I have a hard enough time understanding why they'd trade Cozens for Norris, let alone throw in a 2nd round pick for some reason.

 

[Blotto71]

Be understanding of their plight, we just got rid of our terrible GM but they are still stuck with theirs.

I have a hard enough time understanding why they'd trade Cozens for Norris, let alone throw in a 2nd round pick for some reason.

During the Prime broadcast one of the announcers commented something to the effect that "30 GM's around the league are still trying to figure out why Kevin Adam's made that deal".

I appreciate how non-smug Staios has been about it.

 

[bicboi64]

Be understanding of their plight, we just got rid of our terrible GM but they are still stuck with theirs.

Despite the heartbreak Buffalo gave us in 2006, Its hard for me to hate on them. Its much easier to hate on TML, MTL, Boston, Florida, and even Tampa. I forget Buffalo's existence half the time lol and hope their fans can get better management with a vision (as long as they stay losing to us)

 

[PlayOn]

During the Prime broadcast one of the announcers commented something to the effect that "30 GM's around the league are still trying to figure out why Kevin Adam's made that deal".

I appreciate how non-smug Staios has been about it.

It’s honestly not that hard to figure out.

The teams interested in Cozens were reportedly Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal… can’t remember who else. Not one of them has a good young 2C to give them.

If Adams takes their futures it won’t accomplish anything because a) the team gets blown up when they keep losing and b) he’ll be long gone.